Licorice
by Purple Shell
Summary: [Act II] Cam, now known as Kamil, had started anew in order to chase his dream. For reasons unknown even to him, he invited Reina along. Perhaps it was the security and comfort knowing that she was a loyal friend. Perhaps it was strictly professional. Or perhaps something new WAS going to happen to Kamil's life and feelings. [CamxReina, sequel to Dandelion]
1. Daffodil

_DISCLAIMER:_

 _I do not own the characters of Harvest Moon / Stories of Season. I do not own the image used on the cover as well. Fanart were done by leafmoonie and_ _earlyday19_hachiimi. I just put them together to make something for Licorice._

 _That being said, this is the sequel of the completed story Dandelion. If you haven't read it yet, you might want to take a quick look just so you know what's what. In this story, however, everything is told in the POV of Cam / Kamil as he is known in SoS._

 _Enjoy._

* * *

ACT II

To say that I was abandoned as a young child would be too harsh. My father just happened to be out on business and my mother decided that he needed her more than I did, so she followed after him. If she had abandoned me, she wouldn't have bothered asking Howard—my neighbor at the time—to take care of me while she was gone. The fact that she never returned did not mean that she left me. It probably meant that she was too busy pursuing something bigger than me. Just like what I was about to do in a few hours: I was going to leave the people I called my family to pursue an even bigger dream.

Howard, a man who I'd grown to consider as a father, was busy wiping his eyes with a handkerchief while my sister, Laney, shook her head in disbelief.

"Dad, it's not like he's leaving for good. We can visit, he can visit. We can even get letters sent by Dirk, right Cam?" The blonde girl looked at me, silently requesting my help to calm her crying father. Dirk, the man she mentioned, was a postman that was now staying in Konohana. He told us that he moved here after his brother got married with a farmer in their hometown.

"Yeah. Absolutely. I'll write you letters." I lightly touched the man's shoulder feeling a bit uncomfortable with the whole emotion being poured out from him.

"B-but … my son … he's finally leaving the nest," he said in between his sobs, "and soon Laney will get marrieeeeeeed!"

I smiled at Laney who rolled her eyes; too amazed at Howards' imagination to say anything. We both knew that this sensitive man often over dramatized things. After some more coaxing and crossing our hearts, the chef finally calmed down. He began to help carrying the rest of my suitcases outside.

A bunch of villagers were outside the café to send me off. It was odd to see a few people that I didn't often hang out with. I had rented a horse cart from Grady so his daughter Georgia, accompanied by the horse enthusiast Kana, were both prepping and brushing the horse's mane. Eileen was making sure that the wheels were in place as she knocked a few areas with her rubber hammer as Mayor Rutger and his wife looked on in admiration. Mayor Ina was ushering an old lady, accompanied by the two little kids I often saw in Konohana.

"The man of the hour," I turned to see my best friend, Ash, who appeared from behind the cart after loading my suitcases. I rushed to his side immediately, thanking him for his trouble.

"Well… it's the least I can do for you, pal," he shuffled his feet around unsure, "last favor for you … and whatnot."

I could tell Ash was trying his best to stay strong, what with me being his only close male friend he had in this town. Of course, all of that had changed a little bit ever since the two town's relationship had improved; yet I could still remember his reaction when I first told him my plan to move out.

* * *

"No! What about my wingman plan?" the rancher jumped up in protest.

"Your … wingman plan?" I quickly searched my brain for any recollection of having promised him with something as silly as that. "There is no wingman plan. The girl we're both interested is taken."

"But, but that doesn't change the fact that you still need to be my wingman! What if a new girl turns up? What if she's as sweet as an angel? I can't be a pastor!" Ash looked both bewildered and nervous as he shook my shoulders.

My best friend's comment was starting to not make sense. Apparently, having a new pastor staying at the church in town had caused him to have some sort of holy delusions.

"Look, man, no one's becoming a pastor. Having Pastor Nathan is enough. Calm down." I moved his hands off of me before standing up, being slightly taller than him. "Though I may not be your wingman, I'll still be there for your wedding okay?"

Ash's pale complexion slowly found its color and the man broke into a huge grin. He playfully punched me on the back. "Number one florist?"

"Number one." I punched him back before pausing for a second, slightly in thought. "Just don't go turning to Pastor Ash when I come visit, okay?"

* * *

Konohana's doctor apprentice Hiro appeared in front of me to give a quick health check. "Make sure you have a source of water to keep yourself from being dehydrated. We don't want you to pass out in the middle of your travel." He told me while his girlfriend Nori handed me a bottle of water.

"Thanks, Hiro. Nori." I placed the water bottle at the front of the horse cart for easy access.

I noticed Lillian was walking towards me with a parcel in her hand, her _boyfriend_ Mikhail a few steps behind her.

"I got this for you. Something to remember us by," the farmer said as she placed the item on my hand. I had to remind myself that this was nothing but a friendly gesture as I took the item off her hand. "Thanks, I'll open it when I'm there."

"I hope you find a nice girl in town. You never know what a new place can offer you." Mikhail stepped in and shook my hand.

"… Gee, thanks." Although my face was blank with no emotion, I was thinking to myself if I could accidentally punch him in the face while trying to give him a farewell hug. The man managed to escape unharmed not because I was too much of a coward but because somebody else took his place to say goodbye to me.

I received a bunch of encouragements as they helped me put my bags and suitcases in the back of the cart. I patted my back pocket to make sure that I had my wallet there. After checking everything, I got on the cart and took the horse's reigns from Georgia.

"Well … this is it, I guess." Suddenly, I felt really nervous now that all eyes were on me.

"Come back sooooohoohoon!"

"Dad!"

"Take care, pal."

"Don't be a stranger!"

"I'll definitely call you for my wedding!"

"Lillian! Isn't that a bit—"

"We wish you luck out there, Cam. But remember, you're always a Bluebeller through and through."

"Come back anytime, dearie."

"May the Goddess bless you in your journey."

With all of the goodbyes they were throwing at me, realization began to hit. I was leaving my family. My friends. Several years of my life. Sure, there were people that I barely knew like the pastor and the triplets but this was _Bluebell_. This was my _home_. Tears started to form so I tried to blink them away. Instead, I gave everybody a small wave.

"Thanks everyone. You've all been … " I cleared my throat to push back the emotion, "a great … bunch of people."

I could feel my face heating up for saying such a lame sentence. Thankfully, I simply had to pull my hat lower to hide my face and that's when I saw my partner Reina by the side of my cart. Odd that I seemed to have missed seeing her in the crowd earlier but there she was, looking up at me with a smile. Seeing her smiling was a bit peculiar for me since we were both, somewhat, stoic in our interaction with other people but ever since I asked her to join me at the new town, she had been, well, happier.

Not to be a show-off but, the girl did confess that she liked me so maybe I had something to do with her transformation? Although when I mentioned that fact, she ended up yelling at me. Girls were hard to understand as it was but Reina in particular had an extra petal of difficulty.

"Um, I'll see you in a few weeks. I have a few things I need to sort out with my uncle and the research committee before I can join you," she said, as she turned back her old awkward self.

"Sure. I'll reserve a room for you."

From the back of my head, I could hear a naughty remark from—surprisingly—Nori, that mentioned the word "eloping" and "secret lovers". Both Reina and I blushed, although we pretended that we didn't hear the comment. The botanist went back to join the crowd while I clicked my tongue to tell the horse to move. That was pretty much it. It was weird seeing myself riding past the Bluebell gate for the last time as a permanent citizen. I glanced backwards once more to see the still crowded town square before setting my eyes towards the mountain path, towards my new life in Oak Tree Town.

"Ah, you must be Mister Kamil, are you not?"

The woman standing across the counter introduced herself as the Guild Master. She was not the mayor but from the looks of it, her job was pretty much the same. Veronica, the woman in charge of Oak Tree Town, looked over a few papers before she signed it with her fountain pen. With a firm handshake, she welcomed me to her town.

"From now on you will be staying at the inn. Maurice is the man who manages the whole place." Without losing her pace, she brought me to the building next door. Despite appearing middle aged, she gave out a strong atmosphere that reminded me of Mayor Ina from Konohana. They were both leaders of their town and they were both very dedicated to their job.

As we entered the inn, a tall man saw us and soon approached us. "A new guest has arrived! Welcome, welcome!" He, too, shook my hand and brought me towards the counter.

"Your room is number 204 upstairs. My daughter Melanie will guide you as I retrieve the rest of your belongings." The man handed me a set of key and went straight to the door before I could stop him. Then, as soon as her name was mentioned, a young girl jumped out from behind the counter.

"Ooh! That's my cue. Follow me, sir. I'll take you to your room." The girl named Melanie gave a friendly salute before heading up the stairs.

"When you're done settling in, come find me next door and I'll give you a tour of the town." Veronica gracefully bowed and she followed Maurice out the door.

Without anyone else present at the first floor, I made my way to the second floor. "Here you are, sir! We put you in the furthest room because there's a meanie-looking occupant that's staying in 201 that probably doesn't like to be disturbed." Melanie's attitude reminded me of Ash's little sister Cheryl. That girl surely had a mouth on her despite what her brother thought of her. I had seen first-hand the things she could do to her targets, having lived with one.

Back in Bluebell, I often skipped town on Mondays to visit different places so I was well acquainted with inns and its layout. There was a double bed, a closet, a desk and a set of sofa with a coffee table. My room had the number 204 carved at the door in the similar style with the other ones. Not long after I unlocked the room, Maurice arrived with the rest of my bags. I helped him carry them all to one corner and, after making sure that I was happy with the room, the father daughter duo excused themselves.

"Hahhh…" I laid down on the bed, tired from the long journey. I arched my body to release whatever aches it had been feeling. Traveling was never really my favorite thing to do.

' _Alright, Cam. New town. New people. Perhaps even a new bachelorette.'_ My mind spoke to me. I was too tired to laugh at my own notion.

' _Great. Now I'm influenced by Mikhail. Not here for the girls. That's for sure. Besides, won't it be too disrespectful if I moved on this fast?'_

Was there a limit of days to how long one was supposed to hold on to an old love before being allowed to find a new one? Was there even a rule about this? Truth be told, I really never had any experience with girls whatsoever. Since I was around Laney most of the time, she became my first love by default. Of course, I knew that the relationship wouldn't go anywhere so I kept it to myself and convinced myself I was simply enamored with having a sister figure.

' _Still, it doesn't hurt to look, eh bud?'_

Now my mind was being cheeky. I pushed all unnecessary thoughts away as I pulled myself up. After quickly fixing my hat back to its place, I headed to the guild. Miss Veronica was looking over a few books while talking to what seemed to be a town tourist when I entered. She immediately saw me and quickly finished her discussion with the man before walking up to me.

"Mister Kamil, I didn't expect you to be ready this soon. Are you sure you don't need more time to settle in?"

"It's fine, Miss Veronica. I can unpack later tonight."

"Please, just Veronica will suffice," she said with a gentle smile.

"Then, if you don't mind, you can just address me by my name as well." I held the tip of my hat before politely nodded to her. If there was one thing that I learned from living in Bluebell with Howard was how to act like a gentleman when needed. Veronica had the air of a lady that invoked such attitude.

"Very well, Mist—Kamil. My apologies."

"Don't worry about it. It's just that I'll be staying here for a while so I was hoping that you'd treat me as … " I stopped myself. Was I about to say family? Living in a close-knit bunch in Bluebell surely made me long for that here. I carefully chose a word that wouldn't make me sound too … odd. "I'm hoping that you'd treat me as one of your town members."

"Of course." Veronica laughed as she led me outside and down the stairs. She took me to a large area that had the two gates that led outside.

"First things first, this is our trading depot. It also serves as a place where we hold all of our festivals. This is where traders from different countries come and sell or trade their goods with our … town members such as yourself." At the end of her sentence, she let out a displeased sigh. "At least, that is the aim but as you can see when you first entered the town earlier, there isn't much here yet. Only three vendors are open throughout the week."

"I see. The flyer that I saw—"

"Does mention that we have many trading vendors, yes." When the woman cut me off, I had a sudden sense of déjà vu of being cut off by another person. "We do plan on having more vendors and our five farmers—ah, I'm sorry." The confident woman seemed to have caught something in her throat before correcting her sentence. "Four. Our four farmers are working on it. Well, maybe the three farmers are. The other one is … keeping up."

She went back to her professional mode as I raised my eyebrows in amazement. My old place barely had enough farmers to manage two separate farms but here they have up to four farmers? I was definitely intrigued by this information. Having four farmers meant that there would be four different methods in growing flowers and if I could study each of them, that would really help in my research.

"Speaking of farmers, here comes one of them. Hello there, Ibuki."

My train of thoughts was stopped by the sound of someone approaching. The man who was called out by Veronica was wearing a blue jacket with an orange scarf around his neck. He was wearing a hat that seemed to be saying "Farmer's Hat" that would protect him from getting sunstroke. He returned Veronica's greeting and when he noticed me, he offered his hand out.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ibuki." the farmer said as he shook my hand excitedly.

"Hi. Kamil. But you can call me Cam."

"I like Kamil. It sounds cooler. You just got here?"

"Uh, yeah." I groaned inwardly. To be honest, I didn't like being called Kamil since it sounded a girl's name, Camille, but telling him that right off the bat felt a bit out of place.

"If you need anything, feel free to ask me. I've only been here for a year so I may not know everything about this town but, I'm always happy to help."

The cheerful farmer explained the location of his farm before excusing himself to go a vendor at the North side of the depot. Veronica continued the tour of the town after briefly introducing me to Jonas who was working at the information booth. Both Jonas and Veronica were the ones responsible for handling all things trade-wise.

When we were on our way to another part of town, we passed by, what I assumed was, a carpenter shop judging from the wooden planks stacked next to it. Once again I was reminded that I was no longer in Bluebell after seeing a few patches of empty lots—unoccupied and unused—scattered about the west area. There were more housing for the residents compared to place of business or rather, as Veronica explained, the type of business that were in this area was not for everyday purchases.

"The brother, Mistel, tends the shop but his sister Iris also has a taste in antiquities considering the era of the novel she wrote." Veronica explained as we passed by the Antique Shop. She would have dropped by to introduce me had she not need to quickly return to the guild. Coming to a new town, I had mentally prepared myself for social attacks but apparently meeting four new people in a day was taking its toll on me.

"Oh, is that Klaus' home? I met him before in one of my travels," I told Veronica when we passed the perfumist's house.. During one of my Monday trips, I visited a flower arrangement convention where I was introduced to Klaus. Listening to him talk about his work and research regarding flower-based perfume inspired me to move here and work with him. I made a mental note to greet him later as I was lead back to the east side, passing by the General Store.

Hearing the word General Store intrigued me because Bluebell never had that kind of store before, unless you considered the triplet's tent as a one. An elderly man named Otmar who, the guild master warned, was a bit senile, owned the place. She then pointed at the gate of the town—that led to the forest and other farmers' plots—before guiding me back towards the inn and the guild. "We also have a restaurant that opens up for lunch time at eleven and closes at nine thirty at night. Their meal change depending on the season so be sure to try out each season's specialty."

"I think I'll get a quick lunch after this tour is over."

Veronica looked around before turning her attention back to me. "There aren't any more places to show regarding the town. The rest of the places I haven't showed you are the mansion up those stairs. I would take you there myself but I do have things to attend. Please forgive me for leaving you."

"No need. I should apologize for moving in during your busy day."

I shook her hand and gave her thanks before we part ways; I was heading to the restaurant and Veronica to her post. As soon as I stepped in the restaurant, I could smell the home-cooked meals that were served there. The man behind the counter was someone my age with a messy brown hair. He was wearing an apron while holding a menu.

' _Waiter, I presume?'_ I thought, as I took a seat by the counter.

"Welcome, what can I get you?" The waiter swiftly placed a menu book in front of me. I skimmed through the menu and saw the Curry Rice set. I always enjoyed a good curry so I went for it. When the man himself started preparing the dish, I had to correct myself. He was the chef!

' _Whoa, a Howard before he became a father!'_ Watching the man cook made my mind travel back to my family. I sat there quietly with my face rested on my hand until the chef presented his food. It was a grand serving complete with a salad, a soup, a main course and a desert.

"This is great!" I praised as I engaged in my first bite. The flavor was different from Howard's and was quite authentic similar to Konohana's curry. Even the salad and soup didn't taste out of place. Ending the ensemble with a great dessert was a perfect closing. As soon as I finished my meal, I walked up to the counter to pay.

"That's a total of 1200G"

' _Boy, no wonder it's good,'_ I thought to myself as I reached for my wallet.

"Thanks for the meal. You'll be seeing me more now. I just moved to town." As I handed the money, I thought that it was a good time to introduce myself as any. The chef, who probably thought that I was a passing customer, changed his attitude to be even more cheerful.

"Really? That's great. It's nice to meet you. My name is Raeger."

"I'm Kamil. You can call me—"

"Kamil. Great! I'm looking forward to have you taste more of my cooking."

The two of us shook hands before going back to our own task, mine being to head back to the inn and sort out my clothes. I sighed when I heard Maurice welcoming me using my full name, "Kamil". This town seemed intent on calling me Kamil that giving them an alternate name did nothing for their choice. Once more I was back in my room, this time with my front facing the bed.

"Reina… You have to teach them how to call me Cam." I groaned aloud.

' _That's right! Reina!'_

As soon as I remembered my botanist friend, I rushed back down to find Maurice. Thankfully he was still by the counter chatting with his daughter.

"Excuse me, sir."

"Hah! My boy, call me Maurice." Again, my attempt of being polite was swept aside.

"Maurice, do you still have an extra room? My friend is coming over possibly in a couple of weeks and I promised her that I'll book a room for her."

Maurice's face lit up at the sound of potential customer as he immediately pulled out a large book. He riffled through them before shaking his head. "Nope. No reservations yet. I have a room available. Shall I reserve it for you?"

"Yes please."

While the father was busy scribbling information about Reina, Melanie was staring at me intently as if she was trying to read my mind for something. Finally she spoke, "is she … your girlfriend?"

The question was too sudden that I couldn't stop my blush from showing. "Erm, no, she's not."

"Melanie," her father softly warned.

"Then, are you looking for one? My sister's single." The girl, unbothered by the warning, continued.

"Wh—I … don't think that's …" I wasn't sure how to react to that question let alone to a kid.

"She's not here yet but she's really pretty. Just like me." Melanie continued, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "I'll introduce her to you."

"Alright. To your room, now. Don't leave until it's dinner time." With a stern voice, Maurice pointed to one of the doors behind them. The disheartened girl could only pout and follow her father's instruction. Once she was out of earshot, her father sighed.

"I'm sorry about that. She's just looking for a friend to talk to. Her sister works outside of town so often times she is left to play by herself."

"I see."

No, I didn't see actually. I never understood why little girls liked to act much older than they actually were. Though for a completely different reason, Cheryl was also concerned about her brother having a girlfriend. Laney was one of the girls who received her bug treatment and my sister wasn't even interested in Ash. None of us were thinking of going out with anyone … well, until Lillian came.

"There you are. I've set aside room 202 for her."

"Thank you."

I headed back to my room to finally finish unpacking all my items. I set out the seeds on the tables and labeled them properly. There was a small pouch of fertilizer soil that Reina had prepared for me and I placed it on the floor beside the desk. A few of the pots that I brought received cracks from the journey so I needed to find a place that sells them. I also needed some standard soil. Using the notebook that Reina had given me as a farewell gift, I listed down all the things I needed to do for tomorrow. By the time I was done, it was already nighttime. I faintly heard the sound of the door closing from the other end of the hall.

' _Probably the mean guy.'_ I recalled what Melanie told me. I raised my arms as I stretched my back on the chair. The night was quiet. I let my arm fall on my head as I thought of ways to introduce myself.

' _Definitely not looking forward to it.'_ I groaned once more. _'First it's "hi my name is Kamil" then comes the awkward small talks. Ugh, why do I need to talk?'_

It was these silent moments when negative thoughts came pouring in. I started to doubt myself on whether or not I would be able to succeed in this town. How was I to survive here doing nothing but research? How was I going to practice my flower arrangement skills if I wasn't going to arrange flowers? How could I set up shop? Should I set aside money to have the carpenter build me a stall? With all the different vendors as my competitors, would people buy my flowers? How conceited I was to think that I had skills to reach the top. There was no way I could be special. What if I failed? I would be dragging Reina down with me and she had a perfectly good life back in Konohana.

More and more haunting thoughts flooded my mind that I figured it was time to hit the hay. I was getting tired and a good night rest might be what I needed to exterminate the weeds that were gnawing in my thoughts. I closed my eyes and saw Howard with his happy-go-lucky attitude, smiling at a lady who was busy yelling at him.

" _If you can't raise him well, you shouldn't have taken him in. This is exactly why she left you!"_ Behind the lady stood a young boy with a Band-Aid covering his wounded face. A smirked formed on his lips before he disappeared along with his mother.

Suddenly I turned back to my younger self, with a dirty white polo shirt and suspenders similar to what Ash used to wear, my face smeared with dirt and hints of bruises after fighting with those who made fun of my family—or the lack thereof. _"He said I'm useless,"_ I defended, _"I'm no good at cooking or farming … and that's why mom and dad left me."_

Howard crouched down to meet my gaze and tended to my face. His smile didn't disappear when he said, _"You know, when times are hard, you still need to be kind to one another."_

" _Why?"_ I mumbled, trying my best not to wince from the pain.

" _Simply because … we humans have to rely on each other. I rely on you when I need someone to cheer me up. I rely on Laney when I need a freshly baked cake. And both of you rely on me to cook you the best meals every day. No matter if we're related or not, friends or foe, humans can't live alone."_

As soon as his words entered my heart, the image I saw before me started to fade away as I drifted deeper into unconsciousness.

...

* * *

 **AN:**

Finally I got to post this story, hahaha. Well, I'm not really good at following a schedule as you can see. But I am finally starting (after getting news that there will be a new SoS released this year).

A BIG THANKS to my beta editor: **Romance on Express**. I hope she still remembered the notes she gave me, hahaha. Without her my writing would've been really crappy and very draft-y. Thanks for giving me ideas to help make the chapter better :) Hopefully it's now more to your liking.

For those who are new to the story, I've wrote Dandelion as Act I where Reina is the MC trying to cope with her feelings for Cam. I'm a big fan of CamxReina since I think those two can hit it off somehow, but I'm not a fan off fast romance. They're the type of people that requires time to have their feelings developed. At the end of Dandelion, Reina experienced a growth in her character so now it's Cam's turn. Something that he'll learn in Oak Tree Town.

Some characterisation were based on the game, some background stories were new ideas that I put in myself such as Cam's history and real parents (something that may or may not pop in the later chapters). I am also putting Ibuki (Japanese name) as the male MC we all know and love because everybody loves drama. So, sorry if you're a fan of Minori/Annie.

That being said, let's enjoy another ride with your favorite characters. Do leave a review if you have any ideas or improvement points for me.


	2. Begonia

What made different towns interesting was the fact that they had their very own festivals that were regularly held. Bluebell had the Cooking Festival and Oak Tree Town had the Fashion Show. Everybody was sent a memo that informed today's theme: the color blue. As I was not familiar with how the competition went, I decided not to participate and simply enjoyed being the spectator. I was surprised to find a catwalk attached for the models to showcase their outfit. These people took it seriously.

Fashion was never much in my radar. I simply wore what I remembered my father did, the basic vest, shirt, and tie. Howard had more freedom to dress me when I was younger, there was even an occasion where he let me use his apron but once I passed a certain age, I chose my own outfit. Now that I was in a new town, I'd changed my style to be more presentable by wearing a formal jacket with a knitted sweater vest. Accompanied by my never changing theme: the color purple. The reason I picked that color was because of my surname. I was born to the name Siseli. When I started my interest in flowers, I read a book that mentioned the Latin word _siseli_ translated to the meadow saxifrage flower. It had varieties of color but when I saw the vibrant purple one, I took a liking to it. It gave me a sense of belonging, a connection between my family that I never knew and my passion.

I snapped back to reality when the winner was announced. I wasn't surprised to hear that it was Marian, the pink-oriented doctor who seemed to know his ways around fashion. He, or she as she often referred herself as, took the reward from Veronica before gracefully accepting the congratulations given by all the other villagers. Soon, the stage was taken down and all of the out-of-towners left the Trade Depot while the locals spread into small groups to chat with one another. This was my least favorite part of any competitions. It had only been a few days since I came here so I hadn't the time to be closed with anyone yet. Leaving early was not an option either because I did not want to seem antisocial. In the end, I sighed in defeat as I made my way towards Klaus.

"A win is a win but I won't lose next time!" a confident voice rose from the group beside me. It belonged to Elise, the rich aristocrat farmer with a mansion for a house. Her thick blond hair bounced as she laughed gloatingly at her audience. During our first meeting, I was brought on a tour to admire her estate and it didn't take me long to realize that she wasn't really a farmer. Unlike Lillian, she never touched any of her produce since she had her servants do that for her. When I inquired about her soil and method of growing, she sent me to her gardener Nadi, the _supposedly_ mean looking neighbor of mine, instead. Shame that the only girl farmer here didn't even cut close to how amazing Lillian was.

Nadi was standing nearby his boisterous master as she chatted with her fellow farmer. "It's simply because the room in my mansion couldn't house all of my beautiful outfit. I'll have you know that if it did, it would be an easy win for me. Ho ho ho ho!"

Ibuki simply laughed back and replied with a friendly, "I'm looking forward to see you win," before he turned to Nadi who welcomed his conversation. I avoided eye contact with the group as I passed by them. Chatting with Elise really drained my energy and so I only talked to her if I really had to.

The suit wearing man was in his own group of young adults, all four of them chatting about their different sense of fashion. Klaus, Iris and Mistel seemed to have a similar style that reminded me of people depicted in books of Old England. Not too surprising considering the siblings were in the antiquities business. Agate, on the other hand, simply looked like she was always ready to work with her safari outfit.

"…Hey," I awkwardly greeted as I shuffled myself between Mistel and Agate. Being around Iris made me quite nervous not just because of her looks but because of … well, her … mature … proportions. The outfit didn't help either and instead it was purposefully used to enhance the, uh, size. Probably like any man who first met her, I had a hard time maintaining eye contact.

"Hello there, Kamil. Were you inspired by the fashion we saw today?" Alas, the elegant lady turned her attention to me.

I tried to recall the whole event that I was vaguely following. "Um … well, I'm not quite sure." I involuntarily scratched my head as a nervous tick. "Can't say about the girl's fashion but I liked the last guy. I liked his checkered scarf."

"Oh, you mean the blue work clothes. I like it too. Plus, it's convenient to work in. Double points for fashion and action, am I right?" Agate, whom I've never seen wearing a skirt, swung her arm for added effect.

"I suppose so. I never really thought much on work clothes." I spread out my purple jacket for him to see. "I just replaced my purple vest with this jacket so it works for all seasons."

Klaus studied my outfit carefully. "But wouldn't you get hot during summer? I'm lucky my work allowed me to stay indoors but when I do have to leave, I immediately soak in these."

I had to agree with him. He seemed to be wearing double or even triple layers of outfit. Even looking at him made me sweat.

"I haven't had the chance to experience summer here but back in Bluebell, I rolled my sleeves and worked under the shade. Then again, we were pretty high up so summer was cool and breezy." I made a mental note to increase my indoor research time during summer. That way I wouldn't need to change.

"How envious. I've always wanted to experience the mountain, in a lodge house but I bet deliveries would be mortifying." Mistel, the shortest of us men, spoke with grand words. Something that he picked up from his novelist sister perhaps.

I voiced out my agreement stating the lack of traffic that came to our place and how our village had to rely on self-sustainment to survive in comparison to this town. It was settled that Oak Tree Town had the best prospect for our type business.

"And it's all thanks to our wonderful farmers who had been working hard in bringing new traders," Iris said, puffing out her chest slightly as she opened her arms in a grand gesture.

"Or one farmer in particular. I never seen our town grew this fast until Ibuki came along," Mistel somewhat sarcastically added.

At the mention of his name, Ibuki popped in beside Iris, unperturbed by their distance. My respect for him has increased.

"What's this? Talking about me behind my back, huh?" he said good-naturedly.

"And would you kill us if you do? Seek revenge and overtake our town?" This, surprisingly, came from Iris.

"Please don't give him ideas for the sake of your book," Klaus sighed disapprovingly while Agate and Ibuki laughed as if it was a joke. Which I really hope it was.

"Please excuse my sister," Mistel turned to me after sensing my discomfort, "she's currently in research mode for her new book."

"Oh?" I answered, unable to hide my surprise, "I thought she wrote period piece romance."

"Amongst others. But nothing gets your blood pumping than being kidnapped at a masquerade ball, forcing your lover to search for you as you two struggled to solve the mysteries that only love can conquer!" Iris started an intense monologue that forced Mistel to drag her with him.

"Well, nice knowing you all. You will see my sister after her deadline," he joked as the siblings excused themselves; Iris was still spewing out ideas aloud.

The crowd began to disperse soon after that and I found myself in my room writing a letter to Howard as promised.

" _Dear Howard,"_ I scribbled. The letter continued on to describe the fashion show and my opinion of it. It also mentioned my rejected request in applying for a flower field from Veronica. _"She said it's only for the farmers. So I've been checking out Giorgio's flowers. His farm is like a flower haven. I'm thinking of buying them for my bouquet orders."_

Not being able to sell my flowers here was horrible. I couldn't make as much money as I hoped. Thankfully I still received orders from other cities and occasional requests of potpourri from the women or flower arrangements for their houses here. The doctor was my best client as she—like Giorgio—enjoyed seeing a fresh beautiful flower.

After finishing my letter, I folded it inside an envelope. My hand reached out to the alpaca plushy that I got from Lillian. I never realized that plushies could be so comforting. There were times when I would sneak in Laney's room as a kid just to steal a hug from one of her bunnies but I thought I was over that age when, in fact, the little alpaca had often saved me from my low self-esteem attack. I quickly drafted another letter to thank Lillian and update her with my ventures. She didn't write back as often as I hoped, being busy with her farm work, and from the updates shared by Howard it sounded like she was expanding her farm both in Bluebell and Konohana. It made me wonder if she had time to spend with Mikhail. Would it cause some rift in their relationship? Of course, I wished her nothing but happiness yet …

' _I'm still human,'_ I reasoned.

It was another week later when I heard a knock in my room.

"Post!" the voice said sounding very familiar. Lo and behold, it was Dirk!

"What are you doing here?" I happily shook his hand. Though we weren't that close, it was nice to see someone I knew from home.

"Had to deliver something at a nearby town so I thought I'd drop by. Been meaning to do it earlier but never really got the chance," he said, tipping his hat.

He quickly handed me my letters and, after being reminded of our hunger by our stomach, I invited him out for lunch.

"So is Reina here yet?" Dirk looked around once we got our orders from Raeger.

"Not yet but she should be here soon. It's almost summer," not that the season mattered but I mentioned it anyway.

"That's weird. She left almost a week before I did. Technically she should be here, at least since yesterday."

"Really?" I frowned. Reina did mention that she was ready to follow me in her last letter but I assumed that she'd arrive safely. Now I was starting to worry.

"She does tend to get distracted… Do you happen to know which route she took?"

"I believe she took the road past the valley. It does take longer but it had a scenic view so I suggested it."

My heart sank, fearing the worst. "Don't tell me, it had a flower view?" If my assumption was right, then Reina got lost because of her love for observation.

"Yeah! There's also small forest with a beautiful stream and flowers that only grow there. Did you go there too?"

' _No, because I might get distracted,'_ I gritted my teeth, unsure who I was angry at. It really wasn't Dirk's fault. He didn't know that Reina had that habit.

"Can you show me where it is before you leave? I'll go and pick her up."

"Sure," Dirk took out a folded map that looked battered with age from his bag. He pointed at where Oak Tree Town was before dragging his finger down a road with green patches around it. "If she followed the road, she should be somewhere here. I'm sure she's okay. There's a traveling inn nearby that she's probably staying in."

Probably and should be weren't exactly calming me down. I quietly ate my lunch while thinking of a plan. I had to borrow a horse and the only person I knew that had one was Ibuki. Well, him and the great farmer Elise but did I mention I didn't like talking to her?

I apologized to Dirk for cutting our reunion short and immediately dashed to the farmer's house. Thankfully he was trotting on his way to the rice paddies.

"Huh. Quite rare to see you rush like that, Kamil," he commented when he saw me.

"Sorry, I've no time to explain but can I borrow your horse? It's really urgent."

Ibuki was halfway dismounting his horse when he stopped at my request. He raised his brow trying to read my expression. I wasn't sure what he saw but not soon after, he smiled and handed the reigns to me.

"Sure. Her name is Eda. Be gentle with her," he said, patting his horse lovingly. I'd seen those eyes from being friends with Georgia and Kana to know what it meant. I nodded my thanks before heading out to one of the town's exit.

It was almost dark when I reached the traveling inn that Dirk mentioned but when I inquired inside, no one by the name of Reina was lodging there. I asked if I could borrow a flashlight, explaining briefly that a friend might've been lost in the forest nearby. It didn't take long for my request to be met. After a few good lucks and reassurance, I left the inn on foot having left the horse in their stable right when the sun had set.

My heart was pounding. Every train of thought was imagining the worst. ' _How long had she been lost? Did she have enough food? How did she sleep? Did she travel on foot or with a cart? Were there any wild animals here?'_

"REINA!" I called out as I reached the edge of the forest. The only answer I got was the silent hum of the night. I tightened my hand on the flashlight and braved into the forest. There was no point in staying on the road if I wanted to search for her because she would have definitely wondered in. It felt like I had walked for a few kilometers without any signs of life and so I shouted her name once more. Not far from my position, I could hear a faint sound of flowing water.

' _The river!'_ I recalled Dirk's information and immediately made my way towards the sound of water. There was no one by the river but if I wanted to find someone who was researching rare plants, I'd be looking by the riverbank. So I did. I ran upstream with my flashlight flying left and right until it accidentally shone on something that was caught in the water. It was a piece of cloth.

Noticing the spotted pattern, I jumped into the water causing my trousers to soak all the way up to my thighs. By just glancing I knew that it was Reina's headband, the one that she always wore in Konohana. _'But why was it in the water?_ ' I dared to ask. My throat tightened and I choked out another scream.

"R-Reina! Can you hear me?" _'Please tell me you're alive,'_ I silently prayed as I wade to the other side of the river, having lost my sense of direction during that moment of panic. My shoes were soaked and my trousers were heavy but I didn't care. I was too busy glancing around for any other signs of my lost friend. That was when I noticed an orange light glowing deep within the forest.

' _Fire!'_ I dashed towards it, scratching myself on a few sharp bushes in the process. The light was growing brighter as I grew closer and I could see that it was flickering so it could only mean that it was a bonfire of some sort. _'Please be okay. Please be okay. Please! Be okay!'_

The sound of my heartbeat overpowered the sound of the rustling and snapping branches around me, and as I reached the clearing I was able to make out the bonfire before I felt a sudden pain at the back of my head.

 _THWACK!_

Caught off guard, I lost my balance and would have lost my consciousness as well had they'd been someone stronger. Still, the force was enough to push me on the ground. I heard a woman's gasp and a sound of a heavy object being dropped. If I wasn't so dizzy and in pain, I would've laughed in relief after recognizing that voice. It was hers.

"I … I'm terribly sorry. I thought you were …" she paused before letting out another gasp, "Cam?!"

"You thought right," I managed a hoarse chuckle, trying to sit upright.

"Oh my goodness! Cam! Are you hurt anywhere?" Which was probably a foolish question since it was obvious where she had hit me but given both our surprised state, I let it pass.

"Just where you hit me. I think there's a bump now," I answered in a joking manner, feeling much more relieved to be able to do so. Reina, unfortunately, didn't get the hint.

"Really?" she reached out in a panic and actually found a bump there, "oh no! We'll need to put ice on it. And medicinal leaves! We might have to consider cutting your hair."

She was reaching for something in her pouch when I heard her comment. I immediately grabbed her hand effectively pulling it away from anything that could threaten my hair.

"No need to go to that extreme. I'll just sleep it off."

The botanist didn't answer right away, possibly caught off guard by my reaction. It was only when I saw her slight blush that I realized I was a bit too close for comfort. I let go of her hand and faked a cough as I stood up.

"I-in any case, I'm glad you're okay," I thought of offering my hand to help her up but thought better of it. Besides, she didn't really need my help just to stand up; she wasn't that weak!

' _And yet you were in such a panic thinking that she needed your help to find her.'_

"Why wouldn't I be okay?" Reina looked at me curiously, "it's not like this is my first time traveling. I told you about my trips with Uncle Mako, right?" She sat close by the fire and, with her hand protected by her skirt, took a metal pot that was left cooking there—something that I didn't see in the split second before my attack.

"Right…" I mumbled my answer, feeling pretty stupid. Of course she had mentioned that her uncle always tasked her to make camp. In my over-reaction, my brain wasn't able to analyze said information and instead went overboard with horror stories. I took my place across her, sprawling my legs out to dry them.

Reina noticed this and raised an eyebrow at me, "were there flood?"

"Funny. No, I got wet from crossing the stream," I sarcastically answered, switching my position to come closer to the fire without actually getting burned.

"There's a perfectly sturdy bridge you could've used," she stated.

"I couldn't see,"

"… forgot you had a flashlight?"

"… Maybe we can cross it later when we head to town," I avoided her curious stare. There was no way I would admit my uncool lack of judgment. In fact, this whole night was going be a secret from her. She didn't need to know my failed attempt at being a hero.

"We're heading there tonight?"

"You're thinking of spending the night here?" I asked in disbelief. Reina's answer was to look at her makeshift tent that she probably brought along with her and shrugged. She was _definitely_ no damsel in distress. I had to say I admired her.

"I don't think we'd both fit in there,"

My sarcastic comment was met with a loud sound from her pot being dropped the ground. _'Now who was being over-reacting?'_ I mused. She quickly picked it up like nothing had happened and finished whatever was inside it.

"Then you'd have to help me pack," she ordered as she began to put her things in a cloth sack. I was smiling to myself when I was taking down her tent. I had this odd feeling of satisfaction knowing that her unchanging mask could be slightly removed by something I said or did.

With the two of us working together, Reina's small basecamp was no more and we soon crossed our way back to the edge of the forest. Strange how the return journey was always faster than when I started. I inquired her lack of horse cart on the way back and her answer was as scholarly as ever: to easily keep an eye on rare samples she'd found on the road. Based on her excited expression, she was sure to have found a lot.

Even though we avoided sleeping in a small tent side by side, there was no way to avoid riding the horse together. This time, she didn't comment on anything when I helped her up the horse saddle, and when I took my place behind her.

I quickly brought the horse to a gallop, pushing Reina off balance and into my arms before she quickly mumbled an apology and straightened back up. She was holding her cloth sack in front of her because there was nowhere else to put it so that left her back exposed for many other bumping that occurred on our journey back.

' _She feels nice and warm,'_ I caught myself thinking before shaking those thoughts away. _'Must be the cold night air talking.'_

My wet trouser didn't help with the cold either, and instead, made me shiver whenever I tried to go a little faster. When one of her braided hair reached my shoulder, I noticed that she wasn't wearing her usual bandana.

"Did you lose your bandana in the river?" I shouted over the galloping noise.

Reina managed to turned her face halfway before immediately snapping her head back in place. She shouted her answers as well. "Yes! When I refilled my water bottle yesterday!"

"Yesterday? How long have you been out there?"

"Not too long. It was going to be my third night today."

"That's pretty long for a woman to be alone in the forest. Why didn't you stay at the inn instead?"

"And lose the chance to observe the plant twentyfour-seven?" she scoffed and I could imagine her giving me one of her mocking stares.

"Or you could've arrived at the town first and brought me with you. I could be of use."

"The flowers might've been gone by then."

It was then that I learned that there was no arguing with a plant-loving botanist about research. I admitted my defeat and the two of us fell into silence. Somehow, it didn't feel as awkward as before. It almost felt comfortable. Just two people, enjoying the night travel. Accompanied silence.

About two hours had passed until we finally saw the gate of the town. There were no more open vendors and no one that guarded the trading post. I brought Reina straight to the inn to let her check in. I unmounted first and offered my hand to help her only to be given the sack bag.

"Thanks," she mumbled, and got down from the other side of the horse, way across from me.

"No problem," I answered somewhat dumbstruck.

Maurice had been sleeping already so I knocked on the door of his room. Thankfully, the man was a light sleeper and we soon had him assist Reina despite already wearing his pajamas. He even had a nightcap on. I informed him about the horse I borrowed from Ibuki and the man assured me that he'd be the one returning it to the farmer. After a short argument on who should do it, I admitted my second defeat—too tired from the night's event—and headed into my room.

When I passed by Reina's room, she opened her door and was already in her nightgown; it was an aquamarine gown that gently grazed her ankle. The shoulder was puffier than the others but I could see her shoulder as it was made of sheer fabric. The rest of her gown was made of two layers; the sheer fabric was covering a silky piece underneath. Seeing her like that: peeking through the crack of the door, her hair loose over her shoulder, black against the light aquamarine, made it hard for me to breathe.

"J-just want to say thanks …" she whispered nervously, "y'know, for picking me up."

Then, without waiting for my answer while masterfully avoiding my eyes, she closed the door leaving me glued to the floor for a good three minutes.

That night, I dreamt of the ocean.

It was aquamarine.

* * *

 **AN:**

Yes, I know. I suck at updating. For many reasons, I've kept myself from finishing the chapters. Other than "oh I was busy", I also wanted to make sure that I was able to write their characters properly, that they'd react in a way that fits them, etc. Even now I still didn't think I did a good job with Reina but then it's mostly because she barely appear here. It's kind of hard finding balance between leading them for the plot and staying true to the characters. Especially since, supposedly, their characters has changed a bit in Oak Tree Town.

Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. I gave Cam a last name; something that I've prepared way before I started this story. (Seriously though, I've prepared my own backstory for both Cam and Reina with parents and all that! They live in my world now. MY WORLD!) I even have an explanation as to why Reina's name will change to Licorice in the next chapter.

This time, I will update a bit faster and won't keep you lovely readers waiting too long. If we're both lucky, fast means a week from now. If not, then I'll see on the next update!

PS: feel free to point at any grammatical errors or any weird sentence structure. I did not have a beta reader this time (or in my future chapters possibly) so there might be things I missed especially when it comes to the longer descriptions. I will update and change whenever I/someone notice these errors.

Thanks!


	3. Sunflower

I woke up to the sound of the rain. Groggily, I forced myself to get ready. After splashing myself with water from the washbasin, I got dressed in my usual attire. I didn't bother buttoning all the way up since the summer heat was too much for me. I'd lose the blazer but then it'd be one less purple color on me.

Today was my day-off and I had planned to visit a few places but when I passed by Reina's door, I stopped. The young woman was as awkward with people as I was but I was lucky to have the guild master take me around. In Reina's case, she checked-in when nobody was awake and there was no way the shy botanist would be able to tour the town on her own. Obviously, I felt responsible since I was the one that forced her to check in in the middle of the night. I lifted my newsboys cap to scratch an itch before I knocked on room 202.

There was no answer, so I called out.

"Reina?"

Still no answer. Funny. I always thought that she would be too nervous to be out and about already. Then again, she did tend to wake up early just so she could start trekking the mountain. What's to stop her now?

Slightly disappointed, I made my way down to the first floor only to find the young woman surrounded by the yellow sisters—as I called them. Her hair was in her usual braided version; pinned and tied at the back loose at the front, but her outfit … there was something different about it. She wasn't wearing her usual sleeveless, knee-length dress, instead, her dress went all the way down to her ankles. Konohana's ethnic pattern was printed at the edge of the cloth and she still tied her waist with a pale yellow fabric. Even though her clothes were modest, something about how the fabric fell on her body made her looked very… shapely. It wasn't exactly _sexy_ , that was Iris's business, but it was still…there was something about her that… Basically, it was distracting.

"And what does this Ri-ko-ri-su mean?" The younger sister had her head over the guest book, reading something.

"It's my middle name. My mother named me after the herbal root licorice." Reina, with no hint of nervousness, answered. My ears perked up at this new information. I didn't know that Reina had a middle name.

"Was it because your mom loves sweet?" the ever-curious girl continued.

"No, my mom just happened to be pining for the herbal root when she had me," Reina, who didn't notice me yet, politely replied as if she wasbeing interviewed.

"Why is that?"

"It's a tradition that has been passed down for generations. My uncle, for instance, is named "Mako Kohoshu" from the herb _'cohosh'_ back when my grandma was carrying him. Because of that, he can tolerate pain better than most people."

I stopped in my track, recalling the eye-patch that the old man had. I never really knew how he got it but I could imagine him casually walking himself to the surgical room for the doctors to tend. Not wanting to alert them of my presence, I sat down on one of the steps.

"What about _your_ name, Licorice, what does it do for you?"

"Hmm, licorice roots has been known to do many things for your immunity and fixes a lot of digestive problems. If I'd had to conclude…" she made her usual thinking pose: head down with her hand covering her mouth and chin, "I'm stronger against ulcers, thus, allowing me to submerge into my research without the need of well-timed food consumption."

"But surely, you need to eat," Lillie finally joined in the conversation, "otherwise your stomach will growl louder than a lightning bolt!"

Now I remembered why I rarely saw the elder sister. She was the weather person that showed up every day on TV. How did she manage to be home so quickly after her announcement? There must be some trick to it.

"Don't worry. My uncle will always remind me to—oh … " a shadow casted over Reina's face, "I guess I can't rely on him anymore."

"I'm sure your boyfriend will be the one taking care of you now!" Melanie cheerfully replied.

"Boyfriend?!" All three of us—Lillie, Reina and I—shouted in surprise. Confusion was clearly written on the girls' faces when they heard an extra male voice. They turned to the source of the sound and found me by the stairs.

"Speak of the devil!" the younger one shouted.

"He's _my_ boyfriend?"

"He's _your_ boyfriend?"

The two young women were still in-sync with their disbelief, and although one sounded slightly more cheerful, it still did a hole to my self-esteem.

"Gee, thanks. I know I'm such a catch," I replied sarcastically.

"Why aren't you denying it?" Reina asked, no, demanded. Her face had begun to flush.

"I made it clear to Melanie that you're just a friend so I don't think I need to… again," I made my way to the trio, looking pointedly towards the little girl, " _right,_ Melanie?"

"Then why were you also surprised?" It was Lillie's voice this time.

"Ah, that was ... different reason," I coughed my embarrassment.

I was genuinely surprised when I thought that Reina really _had_ a boyfriend without my knowing. I would be lying if I said I didn't feel a sense of pride when I thought that Reina still liked me. Her confession had been two seasons ago and we never talked about it ever since. How could we? It was already awkward as it is yet, I could've sworn that Reina was still feeling self-conscious around me especially with the way she acted last night.

At first, I thought that her feelings for me would make things weird, but instead, she proved to be a great friend who supported me when I needed an extra push. It was both a humbling and a gratifying experience to be liked by someone. Not everyone could claim to have been confessed to by a girl in his lifetime. Back to our situation, the girls had been in their own discussion about who was Reina's real boyfriend while the poor woman struggled helplessly to end the topic.

"We really are just partners—"

"Partner?" Melanie cut in, completely mistaking the interpretation.

"Work partners!" Reina pouted with her hands on her hips, trying to look angry.

"Uh-huh," the girl nodded not really buying it before turning her attention to me. I tensed. Never in my life I would imagine being scared by a little girl and I'd basically seen one in Bluebell. "Do you want to be _work partners_ with my sister?"

The sister in question only laughed, probably used to Melanie's antics. "Only if he becomes a weatherman. Otherwise, I won't be interested."

Lillie took this chance to end the conversation. She hooked her arms to Reina's and pulled her along. "Speaking of weather, I heard it's the perfect time to go out walking!"

Before Melanie could spot the lie, the three of us exit the inn to be greeted by the pouring rain. Definitely not a perfect weather.

"Here. You can use these," Lillie handed us each an umbrella from the stand by the door. "Sorry about that. My sister's been into Iris's romance novels so she tends to pair people up hoping that something exciting would happen."

"I understand. There's a female doctor that does that in my hometown," Reina answered, referring to Doctor Ayame. I hadn't experienced firsthand how bad her teasing was but I'd been chatting with Hiro, her apprentice, enough to know the stories.

"Anyway, do you two have any plans? Oh, Kamil, maybe you should take her to Raeger for breakfast."

"You're not joining us?" I inquired, suddenly suspicious that she had a different motive altogether.

"Not today, I've made plans to visit Iris. She asked me to read her first draft. It's a murder romance mystery this time. I'll join you next time," Lillie waved goodbye and began to hum her weather news intro. Being a weather girl, she didn't seem out of place, happily singing in the rain.

"Kamil?" Reina's voice was full of curiosity.

"Ah, yeah. That's what people call me here. Cam's actually short for it." It just occurred to me that I never got to tell her about my full name during our time together. The topic never really came up. Then again, she never mentioned her full name to _me_ so I found our situation to be pretty fair.

"So … is that what I call you now?" she finally asked after a long silence.

I grimaced. I _really_ didn't like that name.

"Just Cam is fine."

"…and if I don't?"

"Is that a threat miss Reina?" I asked somewhat amused.

"Maybe. It's rare to see your troubled face so I'm simply savoring it," the young woman giggled; her whole complexion brightened up despite the weather.

"Had the kind Reina been replaced by her evil twin?" I received an elbow on my ribs for that comment.

"Ha. Ha. Funny."

On the way to the diner, I noticed a more relaxed atmosphere around Reina; even when we were in the presence of the attractive Raeger, she was able to exchange greetings with ease. _"And here I thought she'd be nervous with him."_

"She's the new settler in town, just moved in last night," I informed the chef who was faithfully standing behind the counter.

"That's wonderful! I hope you'll enjoy my food as much as Kamil does," Raeger beamed from the counter and I could hear a ' _pfft'_ sound escaping from Reina's lips. "Please, take a seat by the counter."

"Not funny," I gritted through my teeth. The botanist didn't bother answering and instead took the offered seat.

"Here are the menus. It's already summer so I have special dishes only for this season."

"Thanks. I bet _Kamil_ can recommend me something good. Right, _Kamil_?"

She was enjoying this. She knew that nothing I said could convince her to stop. I'd scold her but it was the first time I'd seen her happy because of something other than a plant.

"Of course…" I sneered before pointing at one of the menu. "One order of Large Eel Rice for my friend here." Before leaving Bluebell, I had come to know that Reina _hated_ fish and anything slimy. I couldn't very well throw a fish at her but handing her a fish dish would surely rattle her.

"Ee-eel you say?" she paled suddenly.

"Trust me. It's _reaaally_ good."

"…" Reina could only glare at me before she pointed at another dish order, "then by all means, you should order yourself a Chocolate Ice Cream. My treat."

I gulped. Reina was also made aware of my dislike of dessert and the woman didn't look like she'd back down. "It's my way of thanking you for being so nice to me."

"… Why do I have a feeling that something bad is about to happen?" Raeger, who had been quiet during this whole process, crossed his arms as he looked at us in amusement. He still wrote those orders down and left us to wait in horror for our food.

"I'm … I'm not as scared as before you know. Eel's not even a fish! Ha!" Reina tried to put on a brave face even though she flinched at the sight of the eel Raeger was preparing.

"Please, I'm steeling myself to eat the ice cream," I said, taking deep, meaningful breaths.

"No fair. You got me a large helping while you're probably going to get a tiny scoop,"

"At least you have rice to cover up the flavor. I'll only have some tea to wash the flavor down."

Despite us both dreading to eat our dishes, we thanked Raeger when he placed the dish. Reina was the first to dig in. Her eyes opened up in surprised after her first bite. Her expression wasn't of disgust, though.

"Wow! This is actually really good. It doesn't taste like fish at all!" she said, covering her chewing mouth with her hand.

"Thank you," Raeger, genuinely beamed at the compliment "A few of my patrons don't really like the smell or taste of fish so I make sure that I'm only using the fresh ones to keep it from being too fishy."

"Oh … I'm actually one of those patrons. I seriously _hate_ fish," she blushed before quickly adding, "maybe not from the taste but because I can't stand the sight of it, I've always avoided it. I'm regretting that decision now."

I stared at Reina who was wolfing down her food looking very satisfied at every bite. I, on the other hand, could only stare at my ice cream.

"Let me guess, you hate ice cream," the chef chuckled.

"N-no. I, uh, I love ice cream. Never really had a problem with it," I mumbled as I took a bite. The sweetness immediately overpowered my taste bud making me desperate for water.

"He's just being polite. He hates all kind of dessert actually," Reina commented, still enjoying her food.

"I see …" Raeger nodded knowingly, "I made your tea extra sweet as well so the flavor won't be too strong after a few spoonful. Seriously though guys, I'm having mixed feeling about having my cooking being used for your lover's spat."

"We're not lovers!" It was Reina that was protesting. I was too busy swallowing another spoonful of ice cream.

"Oh? Well, you two seem to be really close."

"We just came from the same town. That's all. But we're strictly friends."

"…" Raeger studied me carefully before smiling at Reina, offering his hand. "Good to know you're still available then. May I know your name?"

"R—"

"Licorice. Like the sweets." I blurted out.

"Licorice, huh? It suits you," Raeger, unaware of what I'd done, took Reina's hand and brushed it against his lips.

Reina's, no, Licorice's reaction was her being dumbfounded either from my introduction of her, or from the chef's gallant introduction. Either way, she was now known by her middle name and there was nothing she could do about it.

' _All's fair in love and war.'_ I thought as I swallowed the last spoon of ice cream.

After paying our bills and promising Raeger that we'd come back to order things we'd love to eat instead, we made our way to the guild hall to meet with Veronica. Again, I introduced Reina as Licorice despite getting a kick from her but the damage was done and poor Reina was forced to answer to Licorice whenever the guild master addressed her.

"Unlike you, I'm not ashamed of being called Licorice," she stuck her tongue out once we exited the guildhall.

"It's a start," I replied, as I noticed Ibuki exiting Otmar's store.

"Ibuki!" I called out. The farmer looked up and made his way toward us.

"I didn't get to thank you for lending me your horse," I shook the farmer's hand in thanks. "This is my friend Licorice. She just arrived yesterday."

"Ah, so you're his explanation," the blond man grinned, "nice to finally meet you, Licorice."

At that point, Reina was no longer bothered by her new name and was focusing on what he meant instead.

"Excuse me?"

"He had this serious look when he borrowed my horse yesterday—"

"Which is a story that would probably bore you. Come, let me take you to Klaus' place before the rain turns into a storm." Not that it would happen, but I didn't want her to know how disheveled I was yesterday. Realizing how independent she was, I felt foolish to have over worry like that. She'd probably mock me even more if she found out.

"I'm sure you're busy with your farm so I don't want to take more of your time. We'll talk later when you're free."

"I'm free now," he teased, knowing that I was desperate for an escape.

"Especially dinner. So let's do that. At Raeger's place," my reply was short since I was busy pulling Reina's away. Our umbrellas pretty much pinned against each other.

Thankfully, Ibuki didn't insist on forcing us to stay but he did agree to meet us at dinner later that night. I wasn't sure if I could trust him not to mention the incident again but we managed to escape. I'd have to deal with it when the time comes.

"That was a mean thing to do," Reina scolded when we almost reached Klaus' home.

"What? No, that wasn't—I wasn't being mean."

"But you seem to be in a hurry to leave him."

"I just … didn't … want to be a bother …" I struggled to find a good reason. Anybody with eyes and ears could tell that I was avoiding Ibuki and for the stupid reason to save my pride. It wasn't something I could explain to Reina, not after she'd seen my embarrassing state last night. I thought I was a man of sensibility with my calm demeanor but for some reason, I had done nothing but act like a child while Reina's been … well, she'd been managing pretty well with all the new people she met; something that I wasn't able to do on my first day here.

While I was busy contemplating, Reina changed her demeanor and started to laugh. Not those polite laughs, mind you, but a genuine type of laugh.

"Oh Cam, you look guilty!" she said, after her laughed had calmed, "I'm just kidding. I know that you're actually a nice person. I'm sure you have your reasons to do that."

She gently patted me on my arm to add an extra assurance. There was warmth in her touch and I could feel it seeping to my chest. One of the great things about Reina was her strong belief in someone, and if she believed that I was a nice person, then it made me believe it too.

"Is it just me, or … something's different about you." There was no doubt that Reina had acted with confidence and poise; she hardly stumbled on her words when talking to me since this morning! Our conversation had been more light-hearted and with jokes! Reina rarely joked with me! At my inquiry, Reina looked down at her shoes, stopping in place. Her cheeks showed her usual hints of redness.

"I've been practicing…" she mumbled somewhat embarrassed.

"For?"

"My social skill. I'm … not proud of my inability to talk around people that I'm even comfortable with so … I asked everyone at home to help me … come out of my shell a little bit. It does get tiring, but I just …" she lifted her eyes just long enough to stare at mine before looking away once more, "I didn't want to be a burden for you."

"Why would you be a burden?"

"Well, I've been letting my uncle do all the talking whenever we're dealing with anything work-related. Now he's not here anymore and so I need to be able to stand on my own. I can't rely on you since … well, we both have our own work to focus on."

"But the two of you never do the same studies," I gave her a quizzical look, recalling the failed dish fertilizer that the old man succeeded in researching.

"That was … different. He's family and you're …" she hesitated, biting her lips in the process, "you're someone I look up to."

"I … am?" I was taken aback. I stood there, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with whatever I did with my hands. " _Should I slide it in my pocket? Cross it? On my sides? Back? Clasped? Why in Goddess' name do I even have two hands?!"_

"I do!" the raven-haired woman continued, unaware of my internal turmoil. "Even with your own … unique social skills, you had the courage to see the world! After you told me your plan to leave, I felt embarrassed that I never once thought of setting out on my own. And there I was boasting about giving my best in my research. What kind of researcher doesn't get samples on her own?"

She stared at me head on before saying, " _you_ gave me that courage. Now I have to do my part to keep up so you won't regret asking me to be your partner."

The idea that I would regret my proposition to Reina never occurred to me. Her awkwardness wasn't because of her personality but because of all the time she spent researching and being behind books. Mine was … from avoiding people. I always kept to myself because people tend to ask questions and there were answers about my past that I didn't want to answer. Not even Ash knew about them and I'd kept being friends with him because he wasn't nosy enough to ask. With Reina, she easily answered any questions thrown at them, about her past, present and future thoughts. She quickly warmed up to my sister, my friends, and the people of Bluebell once she started spending time with them. How could Reina, the most versatile researcher I'd ever met, thought that she was inferior? To me!? If only she knew that _she_ was the one I look up to…

"Reina, actually…" I wanted to share my own insecurity but I stopped myself, "actually you don't have to force yourself around me. Just be yourself. I never once considered you as a burden and I never will."

I gave her a reassuring nod before continuing on our way. All the while, I scolded myself for being a coward. I was the one who had been a burden; a burden to Howard, to Laney, to my mother who left me, and even to my friends. That's why I wanted to succeed on my own. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do something on my own, that I could _be_ something more than just … a freeloading florist.

' _If I tell her this, she'll stop admiring me and then … she'll stop liking me,'_ I selfishly thought as I stole glances to my side. _'If she knew that I asked her to come because I was afraid of failing, of doing this on my own … would she stay or …'_ I tried distracting myself by knocking at the door. Not long after, the sallow-looking man, opened the door.

"Kamil. Good to see you," he shook my hand, squinting from the light.

"Geez, Klaus, when's the last time you saw the sun?" My comment was quickly ignored when Klaus turned to Reina.

"I see you brought a client,"

"My work partner, actually. She just arrived yesterday."

"Hi. My name is Licorice. It's a pleasure to meet with you, sir Klaus." Reina bowed in complete acceptance of her new name.

Klaus let out a tired chuckle, gesturing us to come in. "Please, no need to call me sir. We're all professionals here. If you do that I'd be forced to call you ma'am as well."

After shutting the door behind him, he added, "and don't even think about inviting me out there to enjoy the sun or whatever it is that Doctor Marian says. One second out there in this season is enough to make me sweat. Didn't we discuss this already?"

The three of us gathered around Klaus' workstation where he had been filling orders from the traders. With more trade depot, there were more demands for perfumes, and since it was a new season, new batches had to be made pronto. No wonder the man looked tired.

He continued his work while explaining the scientific process to Reina who had never seen it done before. He mentioned the flower extracting, the mixing of completely unrelated scents to make a new one, the careful measuring he had to do to make sure that all of the batches would smell the same.

"If you're not careful, an extra drop of these, could make it smell like wet soil," he explained as he carefully put in a liquid from a dropper. "There. Now, why don't you try smelling it?"

He handed the small bottle to the eager botanist. Her face sparkled when she recognized the scent. "Strawberry! How is it possible? You didn't even put the fruit's extract in this."

The older man smiled; satisfied by the reaction he induced. "A perfumist's job is both scientific and artistic. You also need the sense to imagine the final result. The rest is just constant practice and learning."

"Similar to flower arrangement," I chipped in, agreeing with what was said. "Identify what flowers you have and imagine the final artwork before you start putting them together."

"Then I guess, I'm the least creative one here. My work relies heavily on only facts and nothing else. I am utterly scientific."

Us two men shared a worried glance, not really intending to hurt her feelings with our explanation. However, the expression in Reina's face was more of a calculating look. Klaus tried to fix things before further damage was made.

"Of course, even scientists need to have an active imagination to see an end result that requires the research. Did you do research because someone told you to? Or because you suddenly thought of it?"

Reina realized the truth in that theory, she cheerfully replied that she'd get inspiration or ideas on things to research on. It steered our conversation to the lack of unified information that keep track of what had and had not been researched.

"Think about it: a place that stores all known information that can be accessed anytime, anywhere. That'll make our job easier! We won't waste time researching something that someone had found out years or even weeks ago." Reina was, of course, leading the discussion.

"Don't we have schools and libraries for that?"

"But you need to be _there_ to look for it. Even if you want to order it via post, you need to know the title of the book, and how are you supposed to know if that book has been written or not? I'm lucky my uncle works for a pretty prestigious campus and botany research team. What about the rest of the people?"

"And how do you propose we could … store these information in one place for easy access anytime anywhere?" Klaus summed up the question that neither of us could answer.

A long silence of defeat pierced our ears. My head already hurt from all of those thinking. I was never really good at anything but flowers. Reina, on the other hand, seemed to still be deep in thought. It was Klaus who suggested we went out for fresh air.

"I thought you said you don't want to leave?"

"Not when it's sunny out. Besides, I'm hungry and it's almost dinner time."

I turned to the clock installed in his house to see that in fact, we had been discussing different topics for hours! The light from the window had dimmed that Klaus started to light up some candles before grabbing his coat. He led us all back to Raeger's diner to grab a few bites.

To be honest, I wasn't really hungry but I still ordered something that I actually liked as promised. Reina ordered some Eastern Pasta while Klaus ordered some Cold Noodles to keep him from sweating. Ibuki came by to join us not long after and ordered a hearty set of Spicy Food Special. Thankfully nobody mentioned about last night and we simply had a heated discussion about flowers and its use in food. By the end of the night, Raeger had new recipes that would incorporate edible flower while Ibuki promised to give him the best quality flowers for him to try cooking from.

We parted ways as Reina and myself returned back towards the inn. After we said our goodnight, it occurred to me that we spent the whole day together. Back in Konohana, despite helping me with research and studies, Reina only comes in the afternoon and leaves slightly before dark. Even if she stayed longer, we'd always have other people to fill in the conversation gap that we'd otherwise have.

"I guess she really did become more confident," I smiled to myself, somewhat proud of her achievement. It got me pretty fired up to do better with myself here.

' _I might be a coward now but that doesn't mean I can't change. If Reina can improve herself over the season, then I shouldn't lose to her. I'll definitely be the person that she look up to!'_

Thinking of this made me quite fired up. I went to bed that night feeling lighter and ready for any challenge that'd come to me.

* * *

 **AN:**

And there you have it! The reason why Reina is called Licorice! I mean, they will still call each other by their old names but for the people of Oak Tree, they are known as Kamil and Licorice. I think it's kind of cute. It's like they have a pet name for each other.

But wow, this took a while for me to post! So sorry... for the super slow update. I actually have this chapter 80% done for several months already but you know, it's hard to make a good chapter ending. Again, I want things to go slow but at the same time I get ideas that can only happen after a couple of chapters more and ... it does not really help.

In this chapter though, I completely made up Mako's name, as well as the fact that Licorice is the middle name. I did research on what cohosh and licorice does so that's kind of real.

Also, notice that I put flower names as title. For some reason I thought it was smart to use flower names to round up what each chapter's theme is about. Good luck me trying to keep this charade up.

Anyway, maybe I should explain what each flower means:

chapter 1 - Daffodil = new beginning (because Cam is leaving to a new town)  
chapter 2 - Begonia = warning of future misfortune/challenges (because Cam is freaking out about Reina)  
chapter 3 - Sunflower = support, dedication, adoration, pure thoughts (because Reina is so dedicated at wanting to support Cam and she adores him)

There. Pretty much a stretch because I don't really know a lot about flowers. I'm not a valentine-buy-me-flowers type of person so I apologize for you flower lovers out there. If there are some wrong interpretation then blame google. I asked google.

As always, thank you sooo much for reading, favorite-ing, following, reviewing this story. I hope this will increase your love for Cam and Reina because they are so adorable together! And I hope you like my depiction of the characters from the game. I'll see you in the next chapter!


	4. White Jasmine

Reina could not have picked the wrong season to arrive. A couple of days after her tour, Oak Tree Town had a fishing tournament. Everybody was handed a fishing rod and was ushered towards the river. Everyone was excited to see who would catch either the most or the biggest fish. Well, everyone except Reina of course. She was standing the furthest from the river as she hugged her fishing rod almost up to the point of breaking. Everybody went their way to find a hiding spot when Veronica started the countdown but the scared botanist stayed rooted on her spot.

"You're not gonna catch anything from there," I called out, as I busied myself with hooking some bait. Reina snapped her head towards me, still glued to the ground.

"I-I'm perfectly fine just being here cheering you on," she shouted back; her voice slightly shaking.

"I can't hear your cheering if you're too far! Come a little closer," I waved at her to at least be two meters from the riverbed.

After a few more coaxing, Reina finally managed to stand behind me in hopes that she could use me as shield from the vicious attacking fish that might jump at her—her words, not mine.

"This… this is worse than the hand fishing competition," she shuddered.

"How so? At least here we use fishing rods. Not our hands," I inquired as I waited patiently for my bait to work.

"Well, you didn't have to join if you don't want. Here … well, I didn't really say no but … I mean, what if you catch a really big one? At least a Smelt is the biggest fish you can catch with your hand …"

I couldn't help but laugh at how troubled Reina sounded. She didn't enjoy this event but, out of politeness, she didn't outright reject joining. That took guts.

"I see you didn't practice fixing your fish phobia when I left."

"Hey! It took me two seasons until I can finally touch a fish in the box!" she admitted, still sounding panicked.

"That long? Wait, then … you've actually been practicing for a while?"

My question was met with silence that I had to turn to make sure that she was still behind me; I didn't want to be seen as a crazy person talking to myself. To my surprise, Reina was blushing.

"I … had Lillian help me with it a couple of times," she slowly stated, "I never I had to until … I felt … like I needed to."

"… you needed to? For your botany research?" I asked, extremely curious.

There was another silence before an even quieter voice answered, "Because … you had a cat."

' _Huh?'_ The answer missed me completely. I wasn't exactly sure how those two things were related. All I could remember was that she disliked feeding the cat so much that she smacked me once when she was helping me catch some fish unless…

"So was the cat so cute you wanted to be able to feed it?"

"It's because it was _your_ cat."

Suddenly, I heard a clicking sound in my brain and all of her actions from the past made sense. She had been trying to fight her fears for me. Me: the guy who liked cats and wanted to feed it fish. ' _She'd go that far just for me?_ ' My cheek started to become warm and my palms became sweaty.

"But that was … two years ago, wasn't it? Don't tell me you already liked me since then?" I tried to say it with a light chuckle but instead, it sounded like I was nervous. My heart was beating quite fast as I waited for her answer. We never really established when she started liking me but the idea that it started long before I began to like Lillian … was pretty surreal. Flattering, too.

"So?" was the only answer I got from her. That simple confirmation was enough to turn my face beet red. I silently thank the Goddess that we weren't facing each other otherwise she'd be able to see how embarrassing I looked. Although I was curious to see her expression, I didn't have enough time to peek because something was pulling my fishing line.

"Whoa! I got a bite!" I shouted excitedly that even Reina went out of hiding to see where the fish was.

Despite having great patience for flowers and its slow growth rate, I never had any patience for fishing, so at that moment, I wasn't sure what to do now that I have one attached to my bait. I tried my best to recall the reeling technique from the fishing show I used to watch as a kid; it followed a fisherman called Angler Jake who went around catching different fishes. Channels were scarce so I had nothing else to watch. I was reeling the fish in when Reina started giving instructions beside me.

"Wait, pull it to the left. Stop reeling. Okay, now reel again. Faster! Pull right! Wait … slowly … NOW!" Following her instructions, I managed to bring the fish closer and closer until it viciously jumped out from the water as if to attack us—my words, not hers.

During the excitement, Reina had forgotten her fear of fish because she was leaning her head quite close to the river, but once she saw the fish flapping around, she let out a piercing scream enough to make my ears ring. Some town folks came rushing in to see what had happened.

"Sorry! Sorry, that was, uh, more of a triumphant scream than anything actually." I assured them, hiding the cowering Reina behind me as best I could. The crowd didn't stay for long since the tournament was still undergoing, us, however, decided that we had caught our final carp. After putting the fish on the pail, I sat next to Reina who was sitting in a fetal position, rocking herself.

"Ew ew ew… ew eeeewwww!" she muttered louder by the minute.

"Calm down, it's gone now. I put it away already. You're safe here," I calmly said. Truthfully, I found her reaction to be quite amusing. Recalling her scream in comparison to her energetic shout was just … too funny.

Unable to hold back, I finally laughed. This caught the attention of the trouble lady and soon she was sulking at me.

"You're being mean!"

"But, but you were soooo into it and then, you just … just," I struggled to explain as I laughed in between. I waited for my laughter to die down before facing the pouting botanist. She was avoiding eye contact and that was to be expected. I did laugh quite uncontrollably.

"I'm sorry. I just … you were very amusing. It was too cute, I can't help myself."

At my apology, she slowly turned her gaze to me. " … well, at least you didn't laugh in front of everyone."

"Yes, because I'm a great friend. Please don't be mad anymore," I pleaded, still feeling amused at her reaction.

"I won't be mad if you tell me your weakness."

"My weakness?"

"Yeah. What are you afraid of? What can I tease you with?"

That question really got me thinking. I tried my best to find something that really disturbed me but I couldn't think of any item—living or dead—that would make me cringe in fear. "Sorry. I got nothing."

"Really? You're not afraid of anything? The dark? Lightning storm?" her eyes bulged in disbelief. My answer might have increased her admiration of me from the looks of it.

"I used to be afraid of the dark, I guess. But that's when I was a kid. Not so much now."

' _Now I'm afraid of being alone,'_ a voice inside me suddenly said. The memory of my being home alone immediately rushed back. I recalled the time when I was a boy, sitting alone in my house waiting for my mother to return. She told me that she'd be back once she found my father, but she never did. I sat there staring at the door, fighting sleep, while fervently praying that my parents would arrive through the door soon. Night turned to day yet nobody showed up to call my name.

"—am? Cam, are you okay?"

Reina's voice pulled me back to reality and my vision turned into that of her concerned face. "S-sorry. I was … still trying to think of something."

"Uh, I think you can stop now. You don't have to think so hard if you really don't have anything," she added worriedly, "it's not like I'm going to get back at you."

"Thanks, Reina." I smiled.

We began to tidy up and joined Veronica so we could submit the fish to be judged. Surprisingly, we won the biggest fish reward, which was a recipe written by Raeger himself. I said my thanks and followed everybody for a celebratory feast at the diner. Apparently, all the fishes caught today were used to feed the whole town—residence or otherwise. I saw a few people helping Raeger with preparing the fishes; some of them I knew, some were out-of-towners.

I shared tables with Reina who paled when she found out what the exclusive menu was, so we busied ourselves with a heated discussion about our great teamwork. I wondered how she, with her fish phobia, would know how to fish. She explained that in the process of trying to rid of her fear, she decided to read more about the animal including how to catch and, later on, kill it. She heard that the best way to not be afraid of something was to learn everything about them.

"Then we should team up again, we'll work together to rid of your fear."

"What's this? You two are working together as a couple now?" Raeger popped next to us while holding our dishes for tonight. Reina reflectively edged away from the dish whilst answering the question.

"Yes, a couple of _friends_ planning to rule the world.

"Ooh, scary. You sure you aren't really dating?"

"Yes, Raeger. We're not dating," I chipped in.

"In that case," the young chef turned his attention to Reina who was poking the dead fish with chopsticks, "miss Licorice, may I have the honor of having your attendance this Sunday?"

"Uh … what?" Confused, Reina turned to look at Raeger.

"Are you free to have dinner with me on Sunday?"

"Wha-why?!" Reina had lost all of her coolness and voiced out what I was also thinking about. I searched Raegar's face to read his intention but all I could see was his regular smiling face. That was, until his grin got even wider, if it was even possible.

"Don't be so shocked. It's my birthday this Sunday and I'll be celebrating it here. Simple party, really. Regular town folks." Hearing that other people were going to be around, I was able to let go a breath of relief that I didn't realize I was holding. Why did it bother me so much that Reina was (almost) asked on a date? Shouldn't I be happy for her?

"And _you_ ," he turned to me, "are invited too, of course."

' _You could've started with that.'_ I thought inwardly, before saying it again through gritted teeth. "You didn't have to make her get the wrong idea."

"True. But I enjoy a little teasing from time to time. It gets boring waiting behind the counter all day, you know," the chef gave us a wink before turning his attention back to the still tense botanist. "So? Will you be there?"

"Uhh … I guess. I don't think I have anything else to do."

"Great! See you both on Sunday. Or before—for your usual meal time."

Once our conversation ended, he busied himself with the other patrons, leaving us slightly dumbfounded. A faint pink color was still visible on Reina's cheeks when she chuckled nervously.

"I didn't realize that Raeger's the, uh, suave type of guy."

"Me neither. He never jokes like that when I was here."

That got a more genuine chuckle from her. "Maybe because you're a _guy_? I can't imagine you being the butt of his jokes."

I opened my mouth to retort before pausing to think about Howard. "I think I can handle it," I finally said matter-of-factly. "Though my response will probably be me ignoring his comment. Still, I'm glad to see your regular awkward side returning, Reina."

To this, her blush became more apparent and she busied herself with her food. "W-well, it's not like I have guys that shows r-romantic interest in me. I'm not like Lillian whom everyone are crazy about," she stole glances at me, forcing me to drink my tea to avoid eye contact, "and … yeah, my own, uh, romance didn't really … end well so, yeah. There's that."

"W-who knows? It's a new town, maybe you'll find someone that finds you attract…tive." Apparently giving compliments to a girl who I was strictly friends with was very weird. Reina mumbled her thanks and went back to finishing the last of the food left on her plate. Perhaps eager to end our awkward dinner, Reina was able finish her seafood meal without gagging more than fifteen times. Not that I was counting.

' _Holy peony, our conversation is as awkward as puberty! This is why I avoid talking about this topic with Reina._ ' I downed my tea before stuffing my face with the fish.

By the time everybody was finished with dinner, the children were sleepy and the adults were too achy to continue celebrating. The youngsters such as I simply followed suit to return to my room. I hopped for a quick shower to wash away the fishy smell. I chuckled when I recalled Reina's reaction. Her scream was quite girly. I knew that she disliked fish but I didn't think that she could turn into a helpless girl like that. It was very different from her usual demeanor. Somehow, it made her seem endearing.

' _I guess, Reina is a girl after all,'_ I thought as I drifted off to sleep.

 _xx_

* * *

 _xx_

The next day, we got busy doing our separate things throughout the village; I was with Giorgio to observe how he nurtured his flowers—he really did talk with them every morning by giving a speech to all of them in a DIY podium. Reina was familiarizing with the town, finding secret flower areas and discussing general botany with Ibuki. I saw them exchanging what seemed to be a bag of fertilizer. Perhaps she was offering one of her uncle's special mix. It had been proven to be effective.

Despite trying to build a constant schedule for our work, we often get caught up in a project and thus often forgot to eat on time, causing us to have less chance to meet. I did see her shadow around the town as she was going the opposite way or turning at a corner or entering another forest area, and so when I finally get to see her in Otmar's shop, I was oddly excited at the encounter.

"Hey," was all I said when she noticed me. She looked surprised before giving me a small smile in return.

"What are you doing here?"

I showed her the flowerpot that I was carrying as an explanation, "Otmar requested it. He said he wanted to make the place look nice."

At the sound of his name, the old man in question called me with glee, like a child excited to see his new toy.

"Ah! Camille, my boy! Always on time. Come, bring the pot by the counter. Let me hand your pay for this month."

Reina went back about her business as I dealt with Otmar. We had decided that he would settle his tab every month after deducing all of the items I got from his shop throughout the month. This way, I won't feel guilty for getting money from an old man.

" _I really need to stop feeling bad for being paid by the elderlies."_ I always had an issue when Mayor Rutger used to request for a birthday rose bouquet for his wife, Rose to the point that he even lectured me about the relationship between a buyer and seller, how it made the world go round. Suffice to say, I never tried to deny his payment ever since.

Once I was done settling the pay, I turned back to Reina who was still scrutinizing the few items of choice displayed at the shop.

"What are you looking for?"

"Oh! Something for Raeger. I don't want to come empty handed."

" _Right. The dinner. Or was it lunch? I got to check with him again."_

Looking around in the room there didn't seem to have anything that would fit the chef. Then again, I didn't really know what he would like. I never really had experience buying gifts for a guy except for Howard and Ash. Even then, their interest was quite easy to guess.

"Hmm… what about the vendors? Did you look at their wares?"

An expression of epiphany appeared in her face. She shook her head slowly. I couldn't help but smile at her reaction. She was so easy to read sometimes.

"Then why don't we check it out?"

We excused ourselves from Otmar's shop to reach the open area of the town where all sorts of vendors come and go to trade with the residents or tourists.

"A new blueprint for furniture?" Reina thought out loud.

"Will he have enough space to place it?"

"These…colorful stones?"

"I don't think guys like shiny things as much as girls."

"Mistle seems to like it."

I considered the antiquities-loving man. "Preference makes everything."

"So you're saying we should find something chef related? They don't even sell anything that wouldn't rot in that category. I can't give him a tree seed."

"Hmm…" It was true that we didn't have an assortment of items that would fit the chef. There wasn't any cooking utensils or lasting ingredients that he would be able to utilize.

There was no other option but look somewhere else. It'd be too late to place an order, so actually buying straight away would be much faster. I turned to look at my friend and weighed the options. There was nothing wrong with us having a trip, right?

"Say, we should go for an outing." I finally broke my silence, causing her to turn her head towards me.

"A…an outing?" Reina asked, slightly confused. Her face clearly said: " _we're in the middle of shopping for a birthday gift. How'd you get to_ that _conclusion?_ "

"Yeah. I'm planning to leave town tomorrow. Wanna come? Maybe we'll have better luck there."

"Wait, you're leaving already?"

"Maybe I should say 'visit another town' instead. Do you want to visit another town with me tomorrow? It'll just be a day trip."

It was like watching a cat purring happily when I saw the change of expression in Reina's face. Her complexion turned bright as she shouted her reply: "Yes! Count me in! Where to?"

"Zephyr Town."

* * *

 **AN:**

Flower meaning for this chapter is: friendship and joy.

I actually followed the timeline from the game itself which roughly goes like this: Licorice arrives on Summer 1, Fishing competition is on Summer 5, Raeger's birthday is on Summer 9 (Sunday). Their outing will happen on Summer 8 (Saturday).

Because they're only a few days apart, Cam's feeling won't really develop that fast in the next few chapters so don't be surprised if he doesn't get it yet despite being overly conscious at times and/or casually inviting her on dates. Sure, some people fall in love quite hard and fast but Cam's not like that. Plus, Reina is in the friendzone and she needs a lot of help to get out of there. XD

Now I'm taking them for a short trip to HM: Grand Bazaar! But since it's only for one chapter I won't really tag it as a cross world story.

Anyway, I mentioned a little bit about Cam's family in his flashback-like moment there. I do have a backstory for him to tie in why he ended up staying with Howard. I'll just slowly reveal it to you guys as the story goes on, *evil smile* for now, stay in suspense!

Anyway, here is the new chapter! I no longer have a beta reader so some of the sentences might be weird. I just hope that I can convey what I wanted to clearly without it ...sounding odd or forced. I tried my best but if you find any oddities, do let me know!


	5. White Clover

At precisely six thirty A.M, I knocked on Reina's door to pick her up. I had woken up much earlier than usual to order two horses for both of us from Veronica and bought a few items for our journey. By five thirty, I was packed and ready. Thankfully Reina was also prompt with time and it took her only five seconds before she opened up her door looking ready with a sling bag across her shoulder. Looking at the bags under her eyes, I could tell she didn't have enough sleep.

"You ready?"

"As always!" she answered with energy contrary to her tired appearance.

We said our goodbyes to Maurice and made our way to our horses. By the time she caught sight of the two horses standing in the stable, Reina slowed down her pace.

"Oh. No cart?" she nervously asked.

I inwardly punched myself for not considering the fact that Reina might be unable to ride a horse. "I … didn't realize you couldn't …" Frantically, I recalled the days that she travelled between the two towns to visit me only to remember memories of her hitching a ride with Lillian or walking by foot, confirming her lack of ability for horse riding. Great.

"It's okay! I mean, I should probably learn how to anyway since I'm … y'know, alone and stuff. Just show me how and I'll copy you."

Teaching was never my strong suit but I tried my best as I explained to Reina the first few steps on how to pull oneself up a horse. She silently observed and listened to all my poor instruction. Her seriousness was just like when she was observing a new specimen and now being the object of her keen observation made me _very_ self-conscious.

"You get it?" Slightly flushed from nervousness, I finally finished my explanation.

"Maybe," she answered honestly as she positioned herself by the side of her horse. She patted the animal several times before finally putting one of her feet on the stirrups. "Here goes nothing," she breathed.

With a jump, she pulled herself upwards but due to the size of the horse, she could only reach halfway up. With her other feet partly on the other side of the horse, her balance was off and began to fall back down. I rushed towards her just in time to catch her. One arm placed under her feet and the other was …

' _Crabgrass!'_ I silently scowled when I realized where … and _what_ my hand was holding. Reina was about to thank me when I let go, practically throwing her off of me to avoid the unneeded embarrassment. Thankfully she wasn't hurt and she didn't realize what I was touching. The sudden déjà vu of what happened one winter in Konohana caused me to shudder.

"I thought you were going to put me down gently!" the unknowing botanist protested, clearly surprised by my suddenness.

"Sorry. I … didn't want to … invade your privacy," I slowly made up an excuse that wasn't completely false. Somehow I managed to hide my embarrassment by offering to push her up, which she agreed to. I made sure that I was only touching her hand and a little bit of her hip but nothing else inappropriate before climbing up on my own saddle.

My heart was still pounding from the sensation and I couldn't help but look at my hand. Absentmindedly, I began moving my fingers in a squeezing motion. _'Did she get bigger?'_

' _NO! CAM! NO!'_ I gasped in surprised, slapping myself across the face with that particular hand. _'What in Goddess' name are you thinking?! She's your friend! You're not supposed to touch her that way let alone_ think _that way, you moronic pervert!'_

' _But it was an accident! It's not my fault that my hand was there!'_

' _Why are you making excuses?! You should be erasing these memories from your brain! Pull it out! Like weed! In fact, burn it from your memory. Poison it! Kill it!'_

"… Cam? You okay?" Unaware of my internal dialogue, Reina stared at me with a concerned look. Realizing that my hand was still in a cupping position, I immediately hid it behind my back.

"Nothing. Just … staying awake."

"Already? The journey barely started," she wrinkled her nose in disbelief.

 _'Imagine her giving you that disgusted face if she knew what you were thinking, you corpse lily.'_

"Yeah, sorry. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

"Really?! Me too! I'm actually quite nervous about today's trip. Even though we did plan a bit, I still don't know what kind of things we'll encounter, or if I'll be too nervous to talk to anyone or if we can't find what we want from the town."

She went on to animatedly describe her hopes and worries. It was rare to see her this chatty with a topic other than plant research or her uncle. My surprise was probably plastered on my face that she noticed, slowly looking down, bashful.

"Sorry. It's just that… I rarely go on a day trip like this. I never accompany Mako when he goes away so this is pretty exciting. And I'm happy to be experiencing it with you."

On that last sentence, she turned to me with enough feminism that made my heart thumped an extra _oomph_ , I had to turn away.

" _That was … Has she been this … forward before?"_ I thought to myself, feeling a bit unused to her frankness. " _She was probably just talking about hanging out together as a friend. I mean, she knows that I liked Lillian."_

 _Liked_ , I mused. Come to think of it, I was so busy with my new life here I hadn't been thinking of her in a while. Even her alpaca plushy that she gave was simply placed on the sofa as a decoration, not as a memento of her parting gift. My unrequited love.

" _So who do you like now?"_

" _Do I need to have someone I like? Can't I enjoy a moment of peace just enjoying a pleasant company of a friend?_ " I turned to Reina who was busy talking about the sights she hoped to encounter on our journey to Zephyr Town. Her horse was a few pace in front of mine and I was able to study her from behind as I fell deep in thoughts.

There was something ironic about our relationship. We were both known for our introvert personalities, often found immersed in our own thoughts and work. Yet, somehow, we managed to pass that barrier and became good friends that would chat from the most mundane topics to serious topics at a moment's notice. Our closeness didn't come by simply spending a lot of times together. I mean, I spent most of my years growing up with Ash but our relationship never came close to what I had with Reina. Maybe because we were similar; similar, but very different. She might not realize it but she was more courageous than me. In order to become close to me, she travelled between—then—the opposing towns, broke out of her shell to become more chatty, made new friends, and followed me here to become a better botanist.

I chuckled remembering the time she yelled at me for using this move as an escape. There was some truth in that. I _did_ want to turn tail after being rejected. I didn't want to see Lillian happy with another man. No wonder she didn't like me; a guy who didn't make an effort trying to visit her across town, a guy who needed a push from another girl to confess to her rival.

"You're a great friend, Reina." I managed to say the conclusion to my thought process.

That caught the woman off guard, pausing for a bit in between sentences before nodding her thanks and continued her rambling.

 _"Ah, another plus points to her for not forcing me to explain myself,"_ I smiled appreciatively.

Now no longer distracted, I clicked my tongue, indicating my horse to make up the distance with Reina. I also told her to increase the pace if we wanted to make it before lunch. Though we did bought food, it was only good for snacks than a proper lunch meal. We only stopped to refill our water container when we passed by a river—the river that I fell into during my failed heroic attempt.

Once we reached town, it was a little before noon. We swiftly found a place for our horses and was greeted by the hustling and bustling of the bazaar. I chose to go to Zephyr Town because it was a town known for its weekly bazaar. I was once commissioned to decorate a congratulatory bouquet for the farmer who helped succeeded the whole event. The crowd weren't as full as today but the items were still of high quality.

"I don't think the café is open today but I'm sure we can find interesting food around." I placed my hand on Reina's back to motion her towards the bell sounds. That was the tool they used to entice customers to see their wares. With Reina walking in front of me, I could see her constant head turn to see the different items on display. There was a booth with ores, there was a booth with beautiful shell lamps, there was even a familiar face! Or faces. Or three of the same face.

"The triplets!" Reina gasped, recognizing the three brothers often seen in both our home towns. "Did you leave town as well?"

"Ah, the plant girl and flower man. Good to see you. We're here because we see an opportunity to make more money. Would you like to buy our wares?"

I should probably be put off for their labeling but I still have a hard time remembering their names that I let it slide.

"We're looking for something that a chef would like. Do you have any recommendation?" I peered around their wares to see any cooking utensils, finding none.

"Ah! Perhaps they would like a recipe book?" The red one offered. I flipped the book open to find all of the pages empty.

"There's nothing here,"

"Yes. Because they need to write the recipe first, and then it will be filled," the blue one explained.

I politely declined the book and told them that we wanted to look around some more before making a sure purchase. When I turned to go to the next booth, I bumped into Reina who was clearly distracted by the smell of the roasted food coming from one of the stalls. Noticing my own hunger, we decided to have lunch first.

One stall was selling different grilled food on a stick. They had mushrooms, pepper and leeks, meats, fishes, squids, potatoes, sweet potatoes, quail eggs, skin meats, even some bugs. I got the safest looking ones: a mixture of meat and vegetables. Reina was getting the same but she kept on eyeing the scorpion stick as she gave some money to the vendor.

"Just get it if you're so curious. It might be your last chance," I told her in between my chewing; something that Howard would frown upon.

Reina turned to me, a mixture of shocked, scared and eager are mixed in her face. She looked back to the scorpion but since she didn't do anything, I ended up buying it for her.

"Wh-what do you think you're doing?" she exclaimed, jumping away from the bug.

"You wanted it. Now eat it."

"You don't know that! I never said I want it…"

"Don't give me that. You were looking at it like you wanted it. I can tell."

"I'll do it if you do it."

 _Gulp!_ My argument halted at the thought of this bug entering my mouth. I shook it to make sure it's really dead before turning back to Reina. She looked at me, giving an encouraging nod as if to say _"go on"_ and with my eyes closed, I took a small bite. The crunch was there and I could feel myself shivering at the idea that I was eating a bug! A poisonous one at that! Still with my eyes closed, I forced myself to chew and swallow.

"Well?" the botanist curiously awaited my comments. Her clear eyes stared at me with anticipation. I allowed myself to be sucked by it until she had to repeat the question.

"It's good," I replied, enjoying the interesting texture. "Crunchy on the outside, juicy on the inside."

"Urp!" a strange sound came from Reina as she covered her mouth with her hand. Perhaps she's trying to keep herself from hurling.

"Oh, nuh-huh. You're not getting out of this. You will eat this and enjoy it," I approached her, bringing the half-eaten bug to her face. Not exactly a smart move when you want to entice someone to eat.

To her credit, she closed her eyes and, despite showing discomfort, took the whole thing in her mouth. She whimpered a little as she felt the texture I mentioned but she still chewed on. Halfway through, she opened her eyes slightly.

"Actually…. It's not as horrible as I thought. Not going to be my favorite but it's edible."

"Everything is edible," I quipped.

"Not if they're poisonous," she replied, stuffing some meat in, possibly to wash off the odd taste.

After finishing the grilled food, we found a stall nearby with some bread and pastry. I got some sour bread, while she got some cream puffs. We drank barley tea, ate some shaved ice, tasted candied apple, and all of the interesting snacks we saw. By the time we finished passing the food stall section, we tried almost all of the goods. We avoided the seafood of course, although I did tease her with one just to see her jump. Nothing could evoke the scream that she made in that fishing competition though.

"Cam, look! A flower stall!" I felt a soft touch from Reina's hand as she gently tugged me towards the aforementioned place.

The stall was impressively stocked. From single stems to a full on bouquet, there were enough varieties compared to all of the bazaar items combined. The man who was guarding the stall was a stout blonde man, with a beard that reminded me of some lumberjack. His voice was loud enough that he didn't even need the bell to pull customers in.

"Flower festival! Get your flowers for the flower festival! Give it to your mothers, give it to your friend, give it to your lover, give it to your nemesis! We have flowers for all purpose!"

"Flower festival?" we both wondered aloud. The man noticed us staring at his wares and immediately pointed at us from afar, shifting people's attention at us.

"You, boy! Get some flowers for your lover and I'll guarantee your eternal happiness!" he howled across the way. All eyes were definitely on us by now. And, being both introverts, we felt really uneasy.

"Oh god. What should we do?" Reina whispered, casting her eyes downwards, her knuckles white from clutching the hem of her skirt.

I, too, felt uncomfortable but I was able to hide my face with my hat. A little trademark move of mine. With my free hand, I took Reina's to pull her to the stall. "Might as well deal with him so he'll stop yelling."

As we approached, albeit begrudgingly, the culprit of our discomfort beamed with pride for having gained customers. He began explaining the flowers that would fit for a loved one.

"Ah, we're not really together. We just… want to browse." I offered.

"Nonsense! The festival is the only chance for you to give flowers to everyone while getting a boost of friendship or love points! Don't miss this chance."

"Do you just… give flowers to anyone? For no reason?" curious, Reina inched forward.

"The festival is enough reason as it is. It's up to you who you want to give it to." The burly man winked.

Slowly, Reina turned to me, trying to keep a straight face but her eyes kept darting at the flowers. Those subtleness made me sure that she was actually interested to participate.

"What do you think Cam? You're the florist. You probably know what flower fits for what occasion. What's a good friendship flower? Or perhaps I should go for a good luck flower. Or would you rather have flowers for good health?" her hand fell into her regular thinking mode, covering her mouth, resting on her chin.

"A florist?" the vendor exclaimed excitedly. "Then by all means…"

Feeling a little bit of pressure, I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. I needed to be in my work mode.

"Okay. So. Each flower symbolizes something. Even if it's the same kind, the colors will determine the meaning behind it." I began, as I pointed to an assorted color of roses, "when you make a bouquet, you have to choose which one you want to use as the center. That will be your main message. All the other flowers should complement each other, making sure that the meaning doesn't contradict the center."

As I explained, I took out a stem of hydrangea, and guard it between two blue irises before adding some snapdragon around it for added color. There were some dry sticks and leaves for me to add to accentuate and shape the bouquet. I wrapped them all in a thin pink material before tying it with a sky blue ribbon.

"There. My gift to you," I proudly handed it to Reina before handing the payment to the vendor.

The reaction that I received was priceless. She clearly did not expect me to give her one, let alone designed an actual bouquet. She stared at me in disbelief, her eyes glistening from the light enhancing the topaz color of her iris. Her cheeks turned into a shade of pink, matching her lips that was opening and closing as she tried to find words to say. There was an aura of femininity that she emanated, something that I never realized she had despite having spent time with her these few days. Had she really changed a lot after a few seasons?

"Th-thanks," she blushed, finally finding her voice. "What do they mean?"

"I'll leave it for your homework. I know you love research." I teased, making my way to another booth that happened to be selling some potted plant. They had some beautiful vases too, with a variety of designs. They all looked handmade. I informed Reina to look around without me while I bargained with the vendor. If I succeed, I could make him my supplier for my commissions that would allow me to increase my price.

After a brief exchange with the vendor, I found out that he wasn't the designer, he was just the glassworker who was given sketches by the actual designer.

"He's a painter? I assumed he'd be in the business as well," I inquired further.

"No, sir. He's a local here that would design for me. He just takes percentage from the sales I made."

Definitely intrigued, I made my way to find the man. Despite being an "artist" myself with my bouquet, I've always had an issue talking with those in the creative business. They're often quite eccentric, disjointed from the world and avoided social contact. Yes, this description really matched my own character but I was slightly more sociable now. I think.

Finally I came to an area where there are almost no stalls, close to the forest. There, I saw a man next to an empty easel. He, however, was busy sketching in a sketch book instead.

"Excuse me?" I called out.

The wavy haired man looked through his long eyelash, not bothering to lift his head. I continued.

"I understand that you are the designer of the vases that are on sale today? I'd like to make a business deal with you."

"I'm listening," this time he didn't bother looking at me.

"I wanted to work together in using _your_ vase whenever I do bouquet commissions for events or even personal request. As of now, I leave the vase picking to my customers and, truth be told, it is an underperformance in my part. With your vase, I believe I can bring out the beauty and charm of the flowers."

"You seem so sure of your ability. What if you're a fluke who doesn't get any job and is a florist who simply sells flower?" he stared at me hard, I returned his gaze.

"I am… aiming to be the best."

Without missing a beat, he closed his sketchbook and stood up straight to shake my hand. "Angelo. Nice to meet you," he offered warmly.

"Ah, Camille. I'm a florist from Bluebell, but I'm currently residing in Oak Tree Town," I took his hand.

"What brings you here then, Camille? It's quite rare to see a florist being very opportunistic like yours. An honest opportunist."

I wasn't sure why I was able to face him head-on now that I thought about it. I had always been unsure of my ability, that there was always someone better than me even if I had practiced and created more designs than anyone. Yet, when he looked at me, a fellow artisan, with the hint of mockery, I felt like I had to prove my worth. Maybe it was my pride talking. He had been looking down on me the moment we spoke and it didn't sit well with me. I wanted to show him I could do it. And I said I would. " _Well, I said I'll eventually get there. I'm still a work-in-progress. We all are._ "

All this time, I'd only told myself that being a great florist would be a dream come true, yet I never did anything to achieve it. Moving out from Bluebell was the first risk I'd ever taken yet it had been a slow progress. Meanwhile, I had seen more growth in Reina in all aspects since I last saw her. She was more confident, more social, smarter, even prettier. She was able to do her work on her own. Heck, she was able to set up camp alone!

So, here I was, challenged by a man who didn't know me, was ready to stamp me as worthless. There was no way I would back down from his challenge, to prove to myself—and him—that _I am worth it._

With a newfound voice I told the painter. "I want to be better than before. I want to keep growing. To learn more, to create more."

"Ah, yes. The fire of an artist can never be quenched," he chuckled in understanding.

"Possibly so," I gave him a smile, pondering if it really was the case.

"There you are!" Suddenly, a familiar voice came from behind us. Reina, with her hands full, was rushing towards me. Her face flushed from the exercise—either from the running or from the items she was carrying.

"Did you go on a shopping spree?" I laughed, amused. I was about to help carry some of them when she thrust a bouquet to my chest.

It was a combination of yellow daffodils that are surrounded by hints of yellow acacia, wrapped in a white silk ribbon. Its placement was a bit odd in some parts with the color being bunched up together in one side. Yet I could still feel the feeling behind it. I though the bouquet closer to get a whiff of the scent.

"Yellow daffodil for luck, and acacia for true friendship. Good thing you put a bunch of daffodils, because if it was only one it can actually means misfortune," I commented.

"Oh…and what if there's more than one daffodil?" Reina paled slightly.

"Joy and happiness," I replied with a smile.

I was so caught up in that precious moment that I had forgotten about Angelo. Reina was the first to notice and gave a small nod at the man.

"Right. Sorry about that, Angelo, this is," I paused for a moment before making a quick decision, "Licorice, a renowned botanist, from my neighboring town."

I could feel Reina lifted her brows ever so slightly with my introduction but didn't comment on it. Perhaps she has resigned to use her middle name whilst away from Konohana.

"I apologize for not introducing myself properly. I was… quite enchanted by your beauty," Angelo, who indeed looked like he was in a daze, bowed to confused Reina.

"Uh, I'm sorry … beauty?" She wondered.

"Your hair! The silky dark color in contrast to your white, soft skin, it perfectly cradles your face enhancing more of your beautiful eyes. Are those jade? No. Green? No! Turquoise? Magical. Very magical."

The painter went on to state wistful words as he approached Reina, taking her hand at the end of his speech before staring at her with sparkles in his eyes. This was probably one of those rare moments when an artist got really inspired by something. At least, I hope it was simply an inspiration and nothing more.

"I, uh..." Reina was completely at lost. Her awkward self was resurfacing as she tried her best to handle this outcome. "I'm not..."

"Ah, forgive my sudden approach. I was simply struck by your charm that I had to express myself in such a way." He managed to let go of Reina's hand but he still didn't retreat from his position, causing the woman to take a step back.

 _'First beauty, now charm. When will he run out of words?'_

"I... I'm sure you mean well but … really, there's nothing special with my hair." She took the end of her hair and began to play with it. Her face was now tinted with an obvious pink color.

"Nonsense! This is the first time I've seen such black hair. All the female have colored hair. Even the male! But yours... against the color of your skin, with those red lips, I will want to keep you for myself had I no self-restrain."

"Then let's hope you can keep that self-restrain." I said, positioning myself in between the two to rescue my troubled friend.

"Of course." He smiled, although I wasn't sure he understood my intention for him to stop the unwanted attention when he asked to sketch his new muse.

"S-sketch me?! Why?"

"I understand that you are visitors to this lowly town so I cannot and will not pressure you to prolong your stay. However, I do intend to immortalize the delicate features that you have so I can put them on my canvas later on."

I shuddered at his overwhelming praise for my friend who seemed unsure what to do. She looked to me for help to which I answered, "up to you."

"What … would I need to do?" She finally asked, coming out from her hiding place behind me.

"Nothing. Simply exist." The painter replied, as he flipped his book open and began to sketch frantically.

At times he would approach Reina and use his pencil to measure parts of her body and went back to his sketching. The sound of his pencil was loud and fast, showing his intensity in his work. He would change angles and sometimes ask Reina to change her pose slightly before sketching some more. I took that opportunity to observe the scene, particularly Reina.

It was a weird knowing that two male, on separate occasions, had tried to flirt with her. I felt slightly uncomfortable with the idea that they saw her as a beautiful woman. It wasn't that she wasn't. Yes, her hair was … exotic, in color. I also grew up seeing colored hair people especially in bluebell, myself included! But it wasn't the first time I've seen a dark hair. In fact, her black hair reminded me of my mother.

 _'That's right. My mother's hair was also black. Long and silky. My dad used to compliment on it.'_ Images of my mother suddenly appeared, overlapping with the image of Reina that I was staring at in front of me. She was beautiful, my mother, always smiling as she called out to both my father and I when it was time for dinner. At least, she used to before she left me with Howard.

Once again, whenever I recalled the memories of my mother, my blood boiled from anger and disappointment. There were times when Reina's appearance made me remember those negative emotions, which was why I often avoided her in the past. Gradually, I learned to see that she was a different person. I began to see her as Reina. Despite having black hair, hers was much longer and had a different shade of black. Her skin was white like my mother but she had callouses on her finger from all the times she wrote her documents. Her nails were short and trimmed to keep it from being dirty whenever she was working with her plants. Her lips weren't exactly red but it did glisten after she licked it whenever she was nervous. Her features were soft and elegant, her shoulder small and frail, her hips curved at the right spot and her breast-

"!"

My face began to heat up when I recalled this morning's incident. Perhaps men would envy me for being able to grab onto those holy things but it wasn't right to feel that way towards her.

 _'I shouldn't see her that way! She's my friend. I have nothing but love and respect for her. As a friend. Strictly as friends.'_

Once I've calmed my heart down, I was able to lift my head up in time for her to catch my eyes. The two of us stared at each other for what felt like a few moments. Somehow, it was hard for me to look away. The stupid painter's words were echoing in my head, mentioning the magical eyes I was currently glued on.

 _'Stop looking at me. Just look away. Look away!'_ I silently pleaded. Instead, the woman had the gall to open her soft lips to mouth the word: I'm sorry. Wait, what?

"Why are you apologizing?"

"Because I'm making you wait while … this is going on."

"Don't worry about it. I'm enjoying myself." As soon as those words came out of my mouth, I swore to give myself a good whacking.

 _'What in Goddess' name was that? You're_ enjoying _yourself? Show some self-restrain!'_

 _'I was trying to make her feel better.'_

 _'By making her uncomfortable?'_

True to my thoughts, Reina was now looking away, _clearly_ blushing. She wrapped her arms around herself as if trying to hide herself from my view. This awkwardness was too much to for me handle that I had to excuse myself, stating that I needed to find a gift for Raeger.

After promising that I would return after I had finished, shopping, I went around the bazaar. By the time I passed the fifth stall, I had lost interest in searching that I ended up simply buying some fancy looking tea and called it done. Still, I wasn't ready to go back yet so I wondered off to pass through more stalls until something caught my eyes.

It was a pair of light green feather earrings with beads dangling at the top. I wasn't really a jewelry man but something about that earing reminded me of Reina. I stopped in front of the wares long enough for the owner to notice.

"Is it a gift for a girl, sir?" Her voice snapped me out of my daydream and I ended up agreeing to her without realizing it.

"It's a great choice if she is into these types of jewelry. We also have some other item with the same color and other feathered necklace like this one here." She brandished few other earrings and necklaces alongside small dream catcher for me to choose. Some of them seemed like a set pair.

"They all look very nice." I commented, struggling to decide if buying her a gift would be a good idea or not. While groaning inwardly, I asked the woman to pack the earing and dream catcher in a box. She was nice enough to decorate it with a ribbon to make it more gift-appropriate.

Now that my shopping was done, I went back to the outskirt to find that the two people had finished with their art project. Angelo was showing her his sketchbook and she was busy complimenting him by the time I arrived at the scene.

"Do I really look like this?"

"That and more. Like I said, I'll bring you the painting once I'm done with it."

"You're coming to Oak Tree?" I piped in, my voice sounded slightly annoyed.

"Of course. I always enjoyed seeing the reaction of the people that I've painted. Their happiness made their faces glow even more. It sends me to ecstasy." As if imagining the scene, Angelo started to blush with satisfaction.

"O…okay, well. Take your time painting that piece but I think we'll be heading back now." I told him, taking Reina's hand. It felt like I should save her from being leered at even more. I secretly wondered if I had ever showed that face when I looked at my flowers.

"Ah, shall I see you off at the town gate, then?" Angelo offered, following us before I cut him short.

"No thanks. We can find our way back, thank you but no thank you."

Then, with increased speed, we escaped that creative man. I was so occupied with trying to keep Reina away from him that I had forgotten that I was the one that sought the man in the first place. Without checking any of the stalls, I led the both of us back to our horses to pack. Reina was strangely quiet throughout the whole process until it was only the both of us on the road.

"You know, you were being weird to Angelo."

"Was I? I don't recall."

"I mean … you thanked him three times."

In my rush to get out, I didn't even notice my slip of tongue until Reina pointed it out to me. Now I felt embarrassed for being affected by the man. We did start on shaky ground.

"Well, being thankful is … always a good point to have." I tried to reason.

"But _three times_? I think we were both dumbstruck that we didn't know what to say."

"Reina, could you just…could you just drop it?"

"…I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let him sketch me. I didn't know that you would hate it that much."

That got me thinking. It wasn't that I hated having her sketched. I simply didn't like seeing Angelo showering her with unnecessary praises and attention. He was even talking about visiting her in Oak Tree when he only met her once. Who was he to act over friendly with her?

"No. It … wasn't that. I just didn't like the guy very much. He seemed… odd. Saying weird things about … your face and … things."

And it was because of him that I noticed things about Reina that I shouldn't have. Him and his stupid description about her beauty, her features and her—

"I actually liked what he said about me."

I snapped my head towards the botanist; not believing what I heard. "You what?"

"I found it flattering. He was complimenting me and I liked it," she continued with an air of … pompousness. That was new.

"You _liked_ being complimented?" I stupidly asked.

"What girl doesn't? I think the reason why Lillian fell for Mikhail in the first place was because he had a way with words—I think all artists does—so it was no wonder that he managed to woo her. If I live in Zephyr Town, it won't take long for me to fall in love with Angelo."

"Oh please, I never complimented you and you fell in love with me just fine."

If silence could be deafening, this would be the perfect time example. Out of spite, I threw those words that I knew was going to insult her. Because of that, I was too afraid to look at her and all I received was silence. Deadly silence.

"… No wonder I stop feeling that way towards you." Came her low, flat reply.

Surprised, I turned to her only to be met with a cold gaze. The angry woman had her head tilted so she was squinted at me through her eyelash. What happened to the magic that Angelo mentioned? There was none of that anymore. Only daggers.

"You … don't … anymore?" was my weak reply. It sounded so sad and desperate. Like a dog whimpering after his master got mad at him.

"Why should I? You never complimented me. I must have been crazy for liking you in the first place."

"Ouch. That's …kinda harsh, Reina."

"Besides, do you want me to like you even now?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you want me to keep liking you, even if you don't return my feelings?"

The questions started to make me feel uncomfortable. These were questions I couldn't answer. My egotistical self did relish in the idea that she still liked me and that I was the reason why she followed me here. It made me feel important and special. But it wasn't fair to her because I couldn't reciprocate. Yes, she was an important friend and I would felt extremely sad if she were taken by someone else but I did not see her as a woman.

Right?

Seeing that I wasn't able to give her an answer, Reina sighed. "If you're my friend, you should be happy when someone shows interest instead. Be my wingman. I don't want to be single forever, you know."

"Right."

' _Her friend. That's what I am. I invited her, as a friend, to come with me, her friend. That's all there is between us. Friendship._ '

For the rest of our journey, we didn't exchange any more words. My mind was quite preoccupied with the thoughts of what my relationship was with Reina. I was reflecting on my actions, thinking of how I had been monopolizing her too much as a friend when I should have been allowing her to find someone, to grow as a person and as a woman. The more I thought of letting her go, the more tangled I felt. The more I thought of her kissing another man, the gloomier I felt.

By the time I rested my head in my room, I wanted to scream out my frustration.

That night I dreamt of being stuck in a rose bush. The thorn hurt.

* * *

 **AN:**

Flower meaning: "Think of me" (Because Cam has definitely been thinking of Reina)

Done with another chapter for ReinaxCam. Finally a little hint of jealousy here but Cam is too stupid to realize it. Yet. Also, the information about his mother is completely made-up by me. His past circumstances as well. Don't worry, he will eventually reveal it to everyone what happened. It might cheesy. But whatever. I liked it. It's what made him so closed up. Probably.

As usual, thank you for those of you who are still patiently reading this silly fanfic of mine. I'm happy to see (or read) that you love them as much as I do. Aren't they cute?! Thanks **CAPJHMPAgirl** for being loyal until now, lol. You've been soooo patient with me and my slow update. Extra extra love to you!

To those who are secretly following and put me in your follow list / favorite list, thank you so much! I hope you won't get tired of waiting, hahaha.

If anyone notice any grammar errors, please do let me know so I can fix it. I tend to have issues with some of the tenses or when the description gets too long.


	6. Zinnia

There was a point in everybody's life when they experienced a turning point. My turning point was when I realized what a bad friend I had been to Reina for not supporting her love life. I woke up that Sunday with a heavy heart. I had heard the term wingman before when Ash mentioned it, and I was genuinely excited to be his (too bad I left town soon after) but when it came to being Reina's wingman, I didn't feel passionate at all. In fact, I was dreading it.

Today Raeger was celebrating his birthday at the diner and we were both invited. I was getting ready for the event; I had the tea gift out and had put on my regular purple suit. As I said before, I wasn't a fashionable guy; the suit was all I had that made me look decent. Replace the knitted vest with a purple tie and viola! I was back to how I dressed in Bluebell.

There was some racket down below that I recognized as the two innkeeper's daughter's voice. It seemed like they were also getting ready.

"Make sure your hair are neatly tied with the ribbons. Did you get your shoes clean? See! One of socks is uneven!" The demanding voice surprisingly came from the younger one as she lecture her elder sister. Seeing Melanie bossing her sister really reminded me of my best friend's bossy sister.

' _Apparently they start young,'_ I shuddered.

"Morning girls," I greeted them as I descended. "Have you seen Re—Licorice?"

"Morning Kamil! I believe your friend managed to escape this tyrant's nagging outside," smiled Lillie with a teasing look to her sister.

"Well _excuse_ me for caring about you two's appearance. This is a bachelor's birthday party! There's a chance that he reached an epipe…ephipony… ep..." she struggled to find the right word before giving up entirely, "before he realizes that he needs to get married to one of the available bachelorettes in town," Melanie who was still busy touching up her sister's dress, sounded like a matchmaking mother out for the kill. Finding a boyfriend for her sister must really be her passion.

"I don't think Raeger is in a rush to—" I tried to reason with the girl only to be cut off.

"Kamil, you're cute. But if you're not gonna date my sister, I ask you to not act friendly with her in the party so the handsome chef won't get the wrong idea."

"Melanie!" Lillie scolded her sister, calling her rude and such but her words made me think.

If I really was going to be Reina's wingman, maybe I had to do that too. For sure she will only hang out with the one she was comfortable with—which was me—and that would make Raeger think _we_ weregoing out. He already assumed wrong when he first saw us.

After excusing myself to leave the inn, I found Reina hanging around the porch of the diner.

"You're not going in?" I asked her when I got close.

"Cam!" she exclaimed, clearly surprised. "No, I felt weird coming in alone. I was hoping someone would eventually arrive. But now that you're here…"

"Good. The sisters are almost done. You can go in together but I don't think I'll be joining you today. Pass Raeger my gift, will you? That should give you enough excuse to talk to him longer. Go charm him or something." I handed my gift to Reina and with a heavy heart I wished her luck.

I couldn't blame her when she gave me that look; shocked and confused. But, before she had any time to recover, I jogged back to the inn to inform the yellow sisters that Licorice was waiting for them. Once that was done, I slipped back into my room to take off my suit and tie until I was only wearing an undershirt.

Somehow, the short morning expedition made me tired. I threw myself on the bed and rubbed my head to ease my headache.

' _Stop it. You should be happy that she is now finding new love.'_

' _But why did it hurt so much when she told me she doesn't like me anymore.'_

' _Must be your pride talking. Nothing else.'_

…

' _Maybe she needs a little help.'_ I thought to myself as I sat back up. It was too cruel of me to leave her alone to fend for herself.

' _She's with the sisters. Melanie is sufficient enough.'_

' _But Melanie is assisting Lillie. She can't handle both girls.'_

' _Reina is an adult woman. She can take care of herself. You just can't accept that she no longer relies on you.'_

' _When did she ever do?'_

Come to think of it, Reina had always been an independent woman since Konohana. Sure, she wasn't a social queen like Lillian or Howard but she had been managing pretty well. She ended up getting along with all the girls in Bluebell without my help. In fact, the only help she ever asked me was …

I chuckled bitterly, _'…to help test her uncle's fertilized soil. '_

In the end, I was the one that kept on receiving from her, be it her kindness or her expertise. If one were to make a give and take list, Reina would win the "give" list, no doubt about it. All I could do was give her something physical. I glanced at another box that was still lingering on my table, decorated with a green ribbon. In the spur of the moment, I bought an earring for her from the Grand Bazaar but our last discussion left the both of us feeling awkward with each other that I couldn't find a good time to pull it out. The only way to make it less weird was to wait for her birthday or during a special event.

Forcing myself out of the bed, I walked towards the calendar to skim through any dates that would be considered special. Apparently there was a safari tour happening tomorrow. I wasn't sure what that meant but based on the word "tour" it sounded like we'd be walking a lot without celebrating anything so I tossed that idea out.

' _What about the firework show?'_ I wondered. The event would probably happen during nighttime. Townsfolk would gather at a large courtyard and I could either give it to her under the flashing light of the fireworks or I could give her after the event. I imagined myself standing next to her as we chatted about our lives, casually passing it to her. _"This is for you,"_ I'd tell her when the final firework popped in the background, lighting up our blushing face.

' _Crabgrass. Why did it become romantic?'_

Here I was trying to make her fall in love with another man, yet my mind was providing unnecessary romantic scenes in my head. This meant I had to scratch that date off my list. No romantic firework scenes for you, Reina. Perhaps it was better to give it on her birthday, I thought, as I skimmed the calendar to find the date.

' _Winter 27,'_ I whistled. _'That's too long,'_

After skimming through the rest of the dates, I finally gave up. I threw the calendar on the table and grabbed my vest. Staying indoors not doing anything made me feel useless which was probably why I ended up thinking weird things. I took this opportunity to feel the summer breeze at the hillside. Everybody must be busy celebrating Raeger's birthday. No one should be around for me to talk to.

Being social was always an important factor for a businessman and considering I was one, there were times when I needed to be social. However, I was also an introvert so being alone was also as important for me. I had to regain my social energy by being antisocial, basically. Laney and Howard never understood this when I said I wanted to spend my days off alone in the forest. They always criticized me for being too unsociable but, to me, a short discussion with a client was enough to tire me out.

' _Except when I talk with Reina,'_ I silently thought. Clearly, the only explanation for that was because we were of the same mind and personality. Hence, she quickly became a special friend to me. Of course I did try to avoid her at first for one reason or another; there was even a time when we awkwardly stood there, searching for a topic to talk about. I could sense her discomfort, as could she with mine. Plant was the only topic that brought us together and it was indeed refreshing to find another person with the same passion. I got lucky.

As I recalled fond memories of the Bluebell days, my feet took me towards one of the rented farm. Ibuki was the one that rented it for his Pumpkin plant. I could see a few sprouts already poking through the ground. I admired a hard worker like him. He was quite similar to Lillian who was always on the go, never stopping, ready to greet you at any chance. However, unlike Lillian, he owned (or rented) so many fields, not to mention the different factories he built. It was amazing how he could do all these work by himself.

Not long after I sat by his field, I heard footsteps and saw the aforementioned man trotting down the slope with a watering can.

"Kamil? Is that you?" he greeted once he spotted me.

"Hey. You're not in Raeger's party?" I stood up to shake his hand after wiping the dirt off my pants.

"I was but I left early. I think they'll be finished soon."

"I see." I replied, unsure what else to say. I wanted to ask about Reina but I didn't want to pry.

"So…" It turned out Ibuki was also lost for words. "You need something?"

"Oh, I was just … clearing my head."

The farmer scrunched his eyebrows together before showing an understanding look, "No wonder she was … don't worry man, she didn't do anything with anyone. She was with the girls most of the time."

It took me a while to connect whom the "she" in his sentence was and I was about to say something when he continued.

"Anyway, maybe I can get your mind off of it for now. Interested in doing a gig in the city?"

"A gig? What kind?" That perked up my interest. I had never done any work in the city no matter how many portfolios I had sent to people.

"My friend is getting married and she's been asking me to send some 'pretty flowers' for her centerpiece," he made a quote sign with his fingers. "She's been complaining that the flowers in the city weren't up to par but farming is really new to me so I still couldn't tell between a quality flower or otherwise. Think you could do me a solid and meet with her?"

Ibuki rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a notebook before handing me one of its pages. "Here's her address. Just tell her I sent you to deal with her flower problems. I'm sure she'll give you more details about it."

I took the piece of paper with the information of my new client with bated breath. I couldn't believe such a great opportunity fell into my lap just like that, I wasn't able to keep myself from grinning.

"Thanks, Ibuki! You've no idea how much I needed this. I'll definitely make your friend satisfied with our 'pretty flowers'." I joked, also making the quote sign.

After a few more word of thanks, I offered to help Ibuki water his field but since he only had one watering can, there was nothing I could do so I promised to help him another day. There was such a rush as I jogged back that I didn't realize the sun had set by the time I arrived at the inn. People were dispersing from Raeger's diner and I caught a glimpse of Reina walking down the stairs towards the Trade Depot area.

" _She didn't do anything with anyone."_ I recalled Ibuki's words earlier. Did she really not try to approach any guys at the party? That sounded like a waste. Curious, I ended up following her. It didn't take long for me to find her sitting on one of the public bench along the road.

"Reina. Had fun at the party?" I called out to her, strangely nervous to hear her answer.

There was a moment when she gave me the stink eye like the one I saw yesterday but it disappeared. Then again, it disappeared because she was looking away from me; she could easily still have that annoyed expression on her face.

"Did you give him my present? Did he like it?" I tried again, taking my place next to her. With a full force, she turned herself towards me. Obviously angry.

"I don't know. Why don't you ask him? I put them on the pile with the rest of the gift since I didn't want to tell him it was from you. I'm not your servant who needs to follow whatever you say."

"Whoa…what … did I-"

"Why did you bail on me? Saying nonsense things like _charming_ him. Since when do you care about my dating life?" her voice became sharp as she asked this. I felt a little scared to answer just to avoid saying the wrong things.

"S-since yesterday? Or today, more precisely."

"Why? Did I ask you to do it?" This time, she was so upset that she even got up from the bench. I—in fear of my life—stayed sitting down.

"You did! You told me to be your wingman so I was doing—"

"That wasn't what I meant! Don't you understand what I—" Reina stopped herself short. She took a few calming breaths while I was holding mine. Finally, "Look. I appreciate that you're trying to do … whatever it is you're doing but I _don't_ like Raeger. At least not in that way."

The raven-haired woman seemed to have calmed down, her eyes showed more sadness than anger as she met mine.

"I… I'm sorry. I'll do better next time." I told her, releasing the breath that I'd been holding. "If he's not your type. I'll look for someone else better."

"Cam, you're missing the point," Reina exhaled, exasperated.

"No, I get it. Raeger's not a good choice for you anyway. Too many competitor—not to say that you can't get him but he's too nice to everyone that he might not be able to give you the attention you deserve so …"

"Cam… listen to me," she growled.

But I wasn't. I was busy listing down the male that I felt could be interested in my botanist friend. There was Klaus who could talk flowers with her but he seemed tired all the time and hated going outside. I couldn't imagine them doing anything fun outside. Mistel was … he was a man but … Skip. Fritz was … struggling. Marian…? Should be questioned further. That only left Ibuki on the list but he was already busy with his farm I wondered if he had enough time to date.

"Angelo!" I cried out, remembering that flirty painter who was clearly interested. I also had an excuse to contact him since I would need a special vase designed by him if I wanted to impress the city bride.

"I'll work something out after I get back from the city," I told her without offering her any other explanation.

"You're going to the city? What for?"

"Meeting a client," I beamed; I was reminded of the joyful feeling I had when I first got the news. It sure felt good to say that I had a client in the city. For us village folks, it was quite a step up.

After explaining to Reina how I ended up with a gig, I went back to the inn to prepare for my quick trip to the city. I packed my portfolio and my small sketchbook where I drew all my designs and ideas in. Once everything was ready, I rested for tomorrow.

* * *

The city had the best transportation but it had the worst air. It was no wonder that flowers couldn't grow very well. There weren't a lot of space for a park, let alone a garden to grow the flowers properly. The client I had to meet lived in the suburban area so she had a small garden. It wasn't but it was there. She had always dreamt of growing her own flowers for her bouquet but she didn't have enough time to tend the flowers. Gardening was simply a hobby so she didn't really know what was the best fertilizer to use and so she went explaining. That was why she really appreciated me taking this job.

"Another issue is the colors! The main decoration theme of my wedding is turquoise and they all kept saying that I had to order a fake flower for that. But I wanted real flowers to give off a wonderful scent when people arrive at the hall!" the blushing bride—as people normally said—was a young, passionate woman with wavy chestnut hair. Her fiancée was sitting next to her, throwing an apologetic smile at me as he tried to calm her down.

"Oh! The bouquet! I also haven't ordered the bouquet since they kept on insisting to give me white flowers with turquoise _ribbon_. Can you believe that? What's the point of ordering from an expensive company if they can't even give me the color that I want! We're in the city! The city! Are you saying that we can't get _anything_ here? Should I be moving to the outskirts now? Which town did you come from? Maybe I should move there since it seems to have everything the city doesn't."

' _Please no,'_ I silently begged.

For the past few minutes, I could only sit there and receive all the information she gave me—both necessary and unnecessary. I had never once uttered a word of affirmation yet she had made her own assumptions about my ability. I had to tread lightly.

"Um, Miss Sarah. Rest assured that I am going to try my best to fulfill your request. It's true that there are no naturally turquoise-colored flowers. Perhaps some shades of blue or green will suffice?" I replied in a calm manner.

"As long as the shade looks like this." Sarah, my client, slid a color palette for me to see. It was definitely not a blue color.

"I see. I will … see what I can do. The only guarantee I can give you is that I will not be using fake flowers. They're too horrid for a special event like this. Regarding the type of flowers, I'm afraid I only have a few limited choices in this season."

"Do whatever you need to do. Paint them, dump them in color, I don't care as long as they're real flowers and the color will stay long enough throughout the celebration."

After getting more information about the budget, the size and the delivery address, I excused myself from their living room and made my way back to my hotel room. I quickly made a few sketches using blue orchids and some ixias since the two of them were the closest to the color turquoise. As long as I put them right, I could create an illusion of that color that would work well for the centerpiece. The orchid would also spread out a strong scent in the room. As for the bouquet, I was stuck. I listed down more flower names that I could remember at the top of my head but in the end, I couldn't find a pure turquoise flowers. I might really need to make it from a white one somehow.

At least, I was able to decide on a sketch that I was happy about. So, on the way back to Oak Tree, I dropped by Angelo's studio to place a vase order. I was surprised to find Dirk exiting one of the houses in his casual clothes.

"Dirk! Do you live here now?" I called him, happy to see a familiar face once again in Zephyr Town.

"Cam? Whoah! What a coincidence," he replied appearing as surprised as I was. "I used to but today I was just visiting my brother. His wife just gave birth actually."

"I didn't know you have a brother. Congratulations on being an uncle," I mumbled, trying to recall if I saw anyone in the bazaar that looked like the mailman. Nothing came to me. "Anyway, maybe you can help me. Do you know where Angelo lives?"

Since the mailman used to be a local here, there was a chance that he'd know where everybody lived. When he heard the name, it didn't take long for Dirk to remember who it was.

"Angelo? The painter? Sure I do! I'll show you."

I followed the man who led me towards a windmill and a big, mansion-like house. I was about to exclaim my disbelief on how a painter could afford such a house when Dirk turned towards a much smaller, humbler house on the side. That seemed more appropriate. Dirk knocked on the door and we could hear some clattering noises that sounded like a dropped something or other accompanied by some cussing. Then, the door opened to reveal a paint-stained Angelo.

"Dirk! I see you still keep in touch with your brother. Congratulations on your new nephew, by the way," Angelo said, shaking the man's hand before turning his attention to me. "And you're here to…?"

"Ah sorry for my sudden arrival," I stretched my hand to the painter, shaking his hand. "Do you recall me requesting for some vase design? I'm here to place an order."

"Right! The jealous boyfriend!"

The exclamation made me want to slap my face in exasperation. Dirk, on the other hand, gave a different reaction.

"You're a boyfriend now? Who's the lucky girl, you sly dog?" he poked me with his elbow as he continued to tease.

"Come and see, I'm actually painting her now," Angelo opened his door wider allowing us to peek inside. Knowing whom it was that the artist was painting, I reached out to pull Dirk from entering in hope that it would avoid some more misunderstanding.

"Wait, Dirk."

"Ooooh, I wanna see! I wanna see! I gotta say, that's mighty quick of you to find someone just one season after—" I collided onto him when he stopped short after seeing the painted subject. That wasn't a good sign.

"REINA?! You're dating Reina? Is that …. So you guys _did_ elope!" he exclaimed louder than before even though his hands were covering his mouth in disbelief.

' _Great. It's getting worse.'_ I groaned inwardly.

"What?! They're married already? And there I was flirting in front of him with his wife! I owe you a grand apology, sir." The painter picked a great time to join in the fun. Yippee…

"Guys. Let me explain. Please listen to what—" I tried to calm them down but the two of them had started their own discussion about my non-existing relationship.

"They actually tried to hide it by leaving town at different times."

"He was completely fine when we talked business but suddenly became cold after he saw me complimenting his wife."

"No wonder he was so out of it when he found out she'd gotten lost in the woods! I _knew_ there was a reason behind it!"

"Guys, come on... stop for a second."

"I should have seen it! She kept on looking at him for permission before she allowed me to sketch her."

"Guys… listen, please…"

"I mean, why else would a girl leave her family and friends behind for a guy if not love?"

"So was it a secret wedding? Did they go somewhere romantic?"

"Probably, they're both introverts so it's not surprising that—"

"STOP IT! LISTEN TO ME!"

After shouting at the top of my lungs, the two finally froze. They looked at me in shock as I tried to catch my breath.

"I am NOT. Married," I stared at Dirk, "and I am NOT. Her boyfriend," then I stared at Angelo. "I just want to talk business right now."

The two men were still silent when I crossed my hand, waiting for a response—nay, a professional response, from the two of them. They glanced at each other and then at me; it kept on repeating until they finally shrugged mumbling excuses as they went their separate ways.

"I better go check on my brother…" Dirk said as he exited the house

"Let's get down to business then." Angelo said as he pulled a chair for us to sit down.

The house finally calmed down and I was able to show the vase that I wanted to order from Angelo. It was going to be a stout and round in shape with two small round handles on each side. Angelo took over the sketch and scribbled a few changes over my design to make it more appealing; he purposely made it disproportionate. I allowed him enough freedom so long as he kept the material strong enough to avoid being tipped easily with the weight of my flowers.

"Alright. I'll send it to the pottery team once I'm done adding the pattern to the sketches. It might be done on first try to expect a few days until I can send it to you."

While Angelo was taking some notes in his book, I stared at the unfinished painting. It was a picture of Reina holding a dandelion as it burst from the wind, allowing the small seeds to fly around her. The painter was truly talented since he was able to capture her beauty perfectly. Even though it wasn't finished yet, I could already see the shine in black hair as if it was the real one. I bet Reina would be happy to receive it.

' _If that doesn't make her like Angelo, I don't know what will.'_

The knotted feeling came back once more as I thought of the two as a couple. I pushed the feeling away and tried to replace it with a happy feeling but it was easier said than done. I was no longer able to pay attention to Angelo when he asked me a question. He had to repeat it twice before I finally caught on.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying?"

"If you're not her boyfriend, is it okay if I went for her? I'm quite taken by her and am interested to see where this could go." Angelo, with his hair tied in a ponytail, looked at me with honest eyes. He sounded quite sincere with his words and it showed in his artwork as well. I couldn't possibly keep him—and Rein—from finding love so I had no choice but to say,

"Sure."

' _Ah, there's that uncomfortable feeling in my throat again.'_

I tried clearing my throat but I still find it hard to swallow. When I saw Angelo's reaction to my permission, I couldn't help but smiled back. Whether or not it was genuine, I wasn't sure.

' _Why did he have to ask permission anyway? It would be better if I don't know his intention.'_

Angelo offered me to stay over at his house and leave in the morning. The sun had started to set so his offer was a welcomed one but … it didn't feel right to stay there when my mind wasn't in the right state. I still needed to sort out my feelings and I was worried that I'd be curt towards my host if I forced myself to stay. It wasn't fair for Angelo who was being thoughtful. So I gave him my thanks and assured him that I was going to arrive before it got too dark.

The journey was only halfway done when night came. The air was cold and the road was quiet. I was lucky that the moon was shining tonight so I could still enjoy the sights. Looking around the path reminded me of how excited Reina was during our trip. All of this must be new to her; a woman, alone in the world, would've been homesick and scared, but she was able to see things in a positive light. Meanwhile, I couldn't even adapt to a small change like this. Why was it so hard for me to accept that Reina won't always be with me? Why couldn't I be stronger, for myself and for Reina?

These negative thoughts started to consume me as I trotted down the night road. Ever since my mother left me, thoughts like this often did. I would bring myself down, doubting my own ability, questioning my own self-worth. As an abandoned child, it was easy to feel all of that. Howard was the one that helped me out of that sink hole. He gave me the passion to become a florist. He showed me what it feels to be accepted. He was the one that pushed me to dream big, rule the world!

Now that he wasn't here, I felt like I was sinking back into my old self. I clutched on to my heart, trying to tell myself that I was going to be fine. I could feel myself starting to panic so I closed my eyes and began to take deep breaths.

' _You can do this, Cam. Breathe in… breathe out… Come on, snap out of this. Breathe in … breathe out …'_

It took me about 10 calm breaths until I finally relaxed. Even the horse sensed that something was bothering me. It kept on looking back at me so I patted him to tell him I was okay.

"Thanks buddy. I'm glad you're here with me."

I turned to see the end of the road but there was still no sign of the town's gate. "Ugh… I should've accepted the offer."

To keep my mind from shutting down, I looked up to the sky and started counting the stars. I even made a song out of it! "One little stars… blinking blinking. Two little stars, blinking even more. Three and four was blinking as well. Five was saying don't forget me. Six and seven, eight and nine, ten happy family of twinkling stars."

The tune was random of course. There were no rhyming words. Even if I tried to repeat it, I'd probably forgotten the first note but it did its job. I went on making up words until I reached the "fifty-four twinkling forest" when I finally reached town. I led the horse back to the stable and made my way to the inn. Everybody was asleep probably asleep by now since it was way past midnight. So I wasn't expecting it when, suddenly, Reina's door peered open.

"You're back…" she whispered as she rubbed her eyes sleepily. She was wearing her nightgown while holding an oil lamp that lit up parts of her face. Her naturally ivory skin glowed a warm shade of orange from the candle fire. It casted shadows on her nose and neck, enhancing her beauty.

"Why are you still up?" I asked, worried that I had unintentionally woken her up.

"Oh, I wasn't waiting on you or anything. I was … still working on some stuff," she replied nervously before quickly adding, "anyway, welcome home."

Then, as silently as she appeared, she disappeared behind her door without waiting for me to reply. Despite feeling achy from my journey, a smiled slowly crept on my face.

' _Home. I like the sound of that.'_

* * *

 ** _AN:_**

Flower meaning: thoughts of an absent friend.  
(I can't believe how on point this meaning is. Cam has been thinking about losing Reina so I went for this flower. Lucky!)

Well, that was a fast update. I'm surprised myself. Then again, it wasn't as long as the previous one and I had already jotted down some ideas for this chapter.

So in this chapter, we get to see a little bit of Cam's self deprivation. I kinda wrote him as this even since the first chapter. To tie in his past, he has developed an occasional depressive state of mind. It's not too major since the game never really addressed it but the more I wrote about Cam, the more I felt like he was mentally kicking himself down. That's what he'll need to grow out of before he can finally be with Reina. I've planned out the story to finish until chapter 12 so hopefully you'll hold on until then *wink*

I decided to keep Angelo as an occurring character since I couldn't really see the other bachelor as a main rival for Cam (similar to how Cam was carefully selecting her next boyfriend). I was going to put Ibuki, like what Lillian was to Cam but when _I_ was playing SoS, I never really had time to "hang out" since I was busy watering my plants on ALL the fields. Not to mention shipping those requirements. Oh, and I assumed that Ibuki came from the city because almost all MCs' backstory is them moving from their busy life in the city...right? The bride is not referring to any existing characters though.

What else... oh, Dirk showed up again! Yay! And he mentioned his brother! Yay! Don't know who he ended up marrying though since I never played Grand Bazaar so I took a lot of liberty writing Angelo's character. He seems nice. I quite like their misunderstanding there. I hope I wrote it well. I actually laughed when I re-read it. (Feels quite proud of myself) If you're wondering about how I knew about his house, I found a pic of the town's map and described the mansion + windmill from there. (Yes, I did my research, lol)

That's all for me! Thank you once again for reading! I hope I can keep up the fast uploads but since today was a public holiday, I was able to really spend time writing. I was supposed to do work but whatever. I'll see you in the reviews or in the quiet email notification.

Love ya!


	7. Rocket

"Failed again?"

I groaned in frustration as I placed another vial to the reject pile at the corner of Klaus' house. As a perfumist, he had equipment that allowed me to extract colors from all sorts of plants and flowers. Theoretically it was simple: order flowers from Ibuki and Giorgio, boil them in a flask until the water turned colorful, place the white ixia into the water, and soon, the stem will absorbed the color into the petals. By the end of that process, I should get a naturally made turquoise flower. However, I didn't expect creating turquoise would be hard. I'd been struggling to mix yellow and blue to make what the bride wanted.

"I'm beginning to question this method." I grumbled, slightly defeated.

Klaus leaned over the failed batch and rubbed his chin to think. His eye bags were noticeable even under the dimmed lighting.

"Your method is the most _natural_ version that you could get. Unless you plan on going back to dipping them in paint."

"Perhaps my eyes are getting tired. I should take a quick break," I stretched, cracking my back in the process before grabbing my suit from the coat rack. Klaus escaped to his bedroom before I could invite him out. Knowing him, he probably wouldn't enjoy it in the first place. The man had made it perfectly clear how he hated the summer temperature and the sun in general. He preferred to leave the house during early morning or dusk. The lack of sun caused his appearance to be quite pale. His sunken eyes didn't help brighten up his looks either. His passion for his work reminded me of Reina who once stayed in the forest the whole night to do research on a flower. Everyone searched the two towns inside out to end up finding her in the mountain, sleeping without a care! I could laugh about it now but back then, people were panicking _especially_ her uncle.

Speaking of Reina, I wondered what she had been doing. Ever since I got back from the city, I busied myself with my work that I didn't get a chance to chat with her. Back in Bluebell, Lillian would happily update me about the townsfolk whenever she visited my booth. Here, everybody was busy with their own goals and dreams. It felt a bit lonely sometimes yet motivating in a sense.

I found myself entering the diner, a place that every town folks would go, and scanned the room. Raeger was there but no sign of the young botanist.

"Late lunch today?"

"Ah no… I was just looking for someone." I was about to retreat when Raeger scooped up some ice cream into a bowl.

"In this heat? Then I suggest you have a quick ice cream break before starting again."

The sparkly cool dessert beckoned me to eat it. The heat wave was attacking my back causing my shirt to stick from the sweat. I get why Klaus didn't want to leave dressed as he did. "Fine. One pineapple ice cream."

"Coming right up. Please, take a seat."

He flashed a satisfied smile before turning to his kitchen. Though a bit side tracked, I figured the sooner I finished, the faster I leave. I was about to enjoy the first bite when Reina entered, sweating from the summer heat. She had a towel around her neck that she was using to wipe her face. Her outfit had undergone a summer makeover where she ditched the usual long skirt and had put on a pair of shorts instead. She was wearing a different turquoise top with flower patterns decorating her waist and sleeves folded to her elbow. Never have I thanked the Goddess for the existence of summer until now.

"Raeger, can I have the usual, please?"

"Sure thing, Licorice. Come sit at the counter."

When the raven-haired woman noticed me, I could see the subtle movement of her eyebrow indicating her surprise. Perhaps it was my staring?

"Long time no see," I cleared my throat to greet her as she sat down. "Busy with anything lately?"

"I should be asking _you_ that."

"Sorry. I've been working on a job at Klaus' place and got lost track of time."

"Hmm… Well, I, on the other hand, have been staying outdoors working on _my_ job," she said, stretching her arms forward in an attempt to relax her shoulders.

"…Really?" I searched any sign of tanned skin or sunburn only to find none.

"They have roofs on the barn, you know!" Reina pulled back from my scrutiny.

"Why the barn?"

"I'm developing a manure-based fertilizer for Elise. She's hoping to export them through Trade Depot and bring more traffic here."

"M-manure?" Now it was my turn to pull back, getting a knuckle from the woman.

"Hey, I washed up already."

"Sorry, sorry, I'm sure you still smell like a lovely flower," I straightened up. "It shouldn't be hard since you've made fertilizers with Mako before."

"That's what I thought but apparently her animals are fed with different feed. Konohana used about the best natural crops; Elise used man-made formulas and grains, the best money can buy. So I pretty much have to start from scratch. I also need to match it with the kind of soil that they have here. I've asked Ibuki to let me borrow a plot of his greenhouse for testing but the seedlings takes time to grow." Reina went into her regular mumbling, muttering more to herself than to me. She didn't even realize when Raeger placed her cold noodle dish; the chef seemed familiar with her habit already.

"I didn't realize food can make such a difference," I replied, halfway through my ice cream.

"Ever heard the term 'you are what you eat'? In this case: you excrete what you eat."

"Can we … not talk about this while we're eating?"

"Sorry. Let's talk about what you've been doing then," she apologized with another slurp of her noodle; completely unbothered by her topic.

"Ah, I'm currently creating a turquoise flower by mixing blue and yellow but … it's not coming out as I hoped."

"Use green."

"Pardon?" I turned to Reina who was busy dipping her noodle to the sauce before she elaborated her suggestion.

"Don't use yellow. Mix green with blue to get turquoise. Start with green and add blue until you find the shade that you want."

"You've done this before?"

"Nori did. I'd watch her dye my clothes. Green from grass and blue from blueberries, mix them together to make this shade," she said, bringing my attention back to her new outfit. Indeed, it was close to the color that I wanted.

Once again, my brilliant partner prevailed. With her suggestion fresh in my mind, I paid for the ice cream and excused myself. I took one green vial from the "failed" pile before slowly adding drops of blue. I could see the color starting to become turquoise. Now, all I need to do was to soak the flower and let it do its job.

I made a few more batches, measuring the number of drops to keep track. By the time I was out of white flowers, I had made 12 mixtures to leave overnight. After saying goodbye to Klaus, I left to rest in my own room.

* * *

It worked! Overnight, my flowers had turned completely turquoise. Sure, some of the shades were different, but it was still possible for me to use them as long as I arranged it correctly. I started making mock sketches for the centerpiece. The blue orchid and ixias were still my main choices. My idea was to create a gradient from white to turquoise using the ixias as it spiralled to the center.

With the centerpiece sketch finalized, I moved on to the bouquet. This time, I picked poppies mixed with white rose. White rose meant purity and I thought it would be appropriate to symbolize the innocent love between the two people.

After completing my sketch, I went ahead and ordered the flowers from Ibuki. The farmer managed to build a greenhouse that allowed him to plant any kind of crops in any given season. It was something that intrigued Reina who declared it as her research subject. The only downside was that the crops grew much slower. With the white roses growing and sketches made, I busied myself with making batches of turquoise water.

In the time I spent working in Klaus' house, I found that Mistel visited the place quite often. He'd go there to remind Klaus to eat by inviting him out to dinner. Other times, he'd go there to complain: about his sister and her weird writing method, about the lack of antiquities in town, and most importantly, about his height.

"I just don't get it! Klaus, you don't even eat and sleep properly yet you're so tall! I always make sure I eat nutritious food, stretch myself whenever I could but nothing's working!" Today, Mistel was in the middle of his rant about height. At first, he was a bit reluctant to complain too much in front of me but once he found out I wasn't judging, he let loose pretty quickly.

Aside from the close proximity of their house, Klaus proved to be a great listener. He'd nod and empathize with Mistel, giving him advice when needed. No wonder Mistel felt comfortable.

"Have you tried drinking milk?" I suggested, joining in the one-sided conversation.

"I've tried it all! Cow milk, goat milk, horse milk, even almond milk! Maybe I'm just doomed to be short."

"Why are you so obsessed with being tall anyway? You're still pretty average. My friends from my hometown are about your height." I recalled Ash and Hiro from the two towns. Though Hiro wanted to be manly like Kana, he never had any problem with his height.

"Well, I bet your friends don't have to live with a tall, fussy older sister. She treats me like a kid because of my height," Mistel crossed his arm and pouted.

"I … don't think your height is the reason why she does it." I tried to say.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. You should try taking naps. I heard that you grow while you sleep."

"Is it really true?" Mistel's eyes lit up at the newfound suggestion. "Curses! All this time, I thought my sister was just trying to make me nap because she sees me as a child. Now I see her in a better light."

"But … how old are you …?" I was almost afraid to ask since age was an important factor regarding the whole nap theory.

"Me? I'm about the same age as Raeger."

"So … in your 20s?"

"Yup. It is precisely why I insist on being treated as a man."

"Then, maybe the height thing …"

I was about to tell him the age that men stopped growing but the young collector seemed very excited about this that I didn't have a heart to tell him otherwise. I glanced at Klaus to see if he had anything to say but the older man just shrugged.

"Maybe I should order a bouquet from you to gift my sister. I bet she'd like that."

"I'll always welcome a business prospect. What's her favorite flower?" I instinctively took out my notebook to jot down information.

"Ah … Iris seems to like any kind of flower bouquet really. Nothing specific."

"I get what you mean. Girls tend to like flowers in general. My sister is like that too. Even the simple wild flowers can get her to a good mood."

"You have a sister too, Kamil? Does she nag a lot, like mine?"

"Not really. She likes to worry though, but since my dad fusses enough for the both of us, my sister had to be the more rational one." I let out a small smile as I remembered the fun time I had growing up. Laney would get angry at Howard for being over dramatic whenever I need to go out.

"I bet your sister looks just like you," that comment suddenly came from Klaus. It was such an … odd sentence that we became silent for a while before Mistel shook his head.

"Klaus, I know you mean well … but that could be misinterpreted on so many levels."

"I-is it? What did I say?"

"It's okay, friend. I guess you just need a girlfriend. Want me to set you up with my sister? You both love being indoors so … I don't see why not."

As the two men continued their conversation; Klaus bent down so that Mistel could wrap his arm around the older man's shoulder. Based on what they told me, Klaus and Iris were classmates who shared the same interest in period fashion; they got close (though Klaus denied the fact that they ever went out). A few years later, Iris was looking for a quiet place to stay to write her novels and Klaus-who was already living here-recommended Oak Tree Town. She brought Mistel along with her and soon the two men became attached like brothers.

Mistel was responsible for collecting most of the vintage paintings that Klaus had put around his house. Their styles and interest did match, after all. It was sort of like having a personal interior design.

"Have you considered being one?" I asked the young man.

"I … had never really thought about it. I mean, I do like decorating houses but it had always been mine or Klaus' … never someone else's house completely," the blond man shuffled his feet anxiously, "Not a lot of people share the same … interest in my passion."

"Then, make them see it. Make an exhibition or something. An auction, a competition, or join some. I'm sure there's bound to be something in other towns."

I proceeded to explain how I used to leave Bluebell on Mondays to join flower arrangement competitions and how my achievements made the other villagers took interest in my job which, later on, began to request flowers from me. If Mistel were to showcase his abilities and style to everyone—excluding the fashion show competition—I was sure people will take notice. At least, out-of-towners would trickle in to find his shop.

"Gee, thanks Kamil. I'll consider doing that." Mistel straightened his back, showing a slight confidence in his pose.

Seeing his countenance improved made me feel … good. Perhaps I was being conceited but I hoped that I managed to spark a small fire in Mistel to achieve something great just like what Howard did to me. Everyone needed that tiny stone to create a rift that would soon overtake the lake or even ocean that we dwell in. When we had someone that believed in ourselves, we could do anything. I mean, look at me now, if Reina hadn't believed in my abilities, I wouldn't even dare to move out of my comfort zone.

I began to understand how important human interaction was. I almost always kept to myself unless that person forced themselves in my life like what happened with Ash and Lillian. Now that I moved here, I was the one that had to take the first step interacting with people. It was harrowing at first; I never knew what to say or how to carry on a conversation. I enjoyed silence. I never knew those "uncomfortable silence" since I could easily put my mind elsewhere and completely ignore whomever I was with, but now …

"You seem happy, did you figure something out for your flower?" Klaus' voice stopped my trained of thoughts. I didn't realize I had been smiling.

"No, it was … something else," I shrugged off his comment. I might have grown more sociable but I wasn't ready to be openly honest about everything. Please, one step at a time. "Anyway, I think I should get back to my work."

Once I had all of the flower supplies in the color that I wanted, Angelo came by to bring his finished vase. The timing couldn't have been more perfect as I was able to work on the centerpiece right away in front of the artist. Although we only met a few times but it always left me with a bitter aftertaste and so I wanted to show off _my_ talent. " _A little harmless competition isn't going to hurt anybody_ ", I thought to myself.

"What do you think?" I said, taking a step back to admire my work. I had put the blue orchid at the center, standing tall and elegantly, as it was being surrounded by patches of ixia that created the illusion of a triangular shape from all sides. I put blade leaves to neutralize it from too much turquoise.

"It's great! It compliments my vase design perfectly! I'm honored to be collaborating with you." Angelo, honest with his admiration, was quick to praise me.

"Thanks. I'll send you the payment as soon as I get it from the client." I looked over to him and noticed that he was still carrying another rectangle shaped item. It was covered in white cloth for protection against the weather, I supposed.

Angelo noticed my curious glances and beamed with pride as he explained, "ah, this … is my finished work of your friend, miss Licorice. I'm planning to give this to her once I'm done here, which I think I am!"

Without waiting for my reply, he immediately turned on his heels and left my room. I followed him with an uncomfortable feeling in my chest. I'd seen his draft and his painting was beautiful, naturally, I was extremely curious: of the final result and of Reina's reaction.

"M-maybe you should just leave it at the inn. You don't even know where she is right now."

"Nonsense! My greatest joy will be to see her reaction when she first lays eyes on it. Maybe I'll even score a chance to ask her out." The cheerful man replied, skipping his way through town.

I quickly checked the time, usually Reina would be busy somewhere in the mountain and there was no way this man was going to check the whole place just to find her. All I needed to do was to steer him away from her possible location and—

Alas, as I was thinking on my plan, Reina appeared with Elise from the mansion. The painter didn't notice them at first but his attention was caught by the loud voice that could only belong to the lady farmer. As always, she was boasting about the quality goods she was going to produce from the new fertilizer from Reina.

"Like I said, should you require any financial support on your research, I'll be happy to aid you."

"Thank you Elise. I'm truly indebted to you," came the botanist's reply.

Today she was wearing her summer outfit that showcased a lot of skin. Thankfully, this time she had her sleeves all the way down and knee length socks to cover more of her skin. I would hate it if Angelo got to see what _I_ saw the other day. Still, her new look was enough to trigger the smooth talking artist.

"Is this an angel that I see descending down from heaven?"

"Hmm, another man who acknowledges my beau—" Elise had started saying before Angelo continued with his speech.

"Miss Licorice, truly, your beauty is something that I can never replicate."

"Uh … Angelo was it?" Reina uncomfortably inched away from the two people. I, too, avoided seeing the reaction of the proud farmer since it was incredibly awkward.

"Ooooh, it is an honor to have you remember my name though our meeting was only fleeting."

"I don't think you asking her to pose for hours was anything but 'fleeting', Angelo." I stepped in, honestly annoyed by his honeyed words.

"And let me to show you the result of those sketches I was allowed to make," Angelo completely ignored the sarcasm in my tone and began to open his artwork.

With a bow, he flipped it towards Reina so the botanist could see it clearly. Her face brightened and her eyes glowed at the sight of her painting. She put her hand on her cheek trying to hide her blushing face to no avail.

"I-Is this really … me?" she asked, slightly breathless.

"I could never capture your true beauty but … this is my interpretation of it."

The painting showed Reina with a white gown amongst a green meadow under a blue sky. She was wearing a summer hat, tucking strands of hair behind her ear as she smiled at us. It was as if she was alive. Truly it was a great work of art. Even Elise admitted that Angelo was talented although she began to claim that _she_ was the true beauty. As the two argue, Reina was silently admiring the painting that she was holding in her hand.

Pain began to surface in my chest as I watched her being swept off her feet. Not moments ago I shamelessly flaunted my "talent" to Angelo when he had been the winner all along. No matter how many flowers I had grown, how many bouquets I had designed, I never managed to cause that expression from her. Reina—the woman known for her few expressions—managed to show that kind of face at another man's creation. Clearly, I had lost.

"Do you also like the painting, Cam?" she shyly asked.

"Does it matter?" came my weak reply. "I'm sorry, I still have work to do."

With that, I rushed back to my room to finish the bride's bouquet. However, I was no longer in the right mood to create anything beautiful. I went back to the drawing board in order to find inspiration but all I got was gloomy sketches filled with angular shapes instead of the elegance that the bride had requested. I kept on throwing my rejected sketches until my waste bin was full of crumpled papers. Finally, I was so frustrated at my lack of creativity that I threw my pencil away almost hitting the person by the door.

"Reina? Why are you here?" I didn't intend to sound so harsh and unwelcoming but I was not in a happy state.

' _How long had she been there? Did she see how pathetic I was?'_

"Hey, I just wanted to check on you. Angelo said that you finished your flower piece?"

' _Angelo. That name again._ '

I didn't answer her for fear of saying something rude. Instead, I turned around in hopes that it was enough to relay the message that I didn't want her to bother me. Apparently, it didn't work.

"Oh wow, your flowers … they're beautiful."

"Please … don't force yourself."

"No, but it's true. I love it. I can tell that you've worked hard on it."

"It wasn't without your help, though." I continued to sulk.

"But all I did was tell you how to get the color. You were the one with the idea in the first place."

"Yeah, after following the bride's request. She was the one that gave me the—"

 _SMACK!_

"Ouch!?"

I finally turned around after I felt something fly to my head; it was my pencil that was thrown by a very angry looking botanist.

"Stop that wallowing! What is wrong with you? If this is your way of getting compliments, it's seriously pissing me off." Suddenly I felt a sense of déjà vu. "For someone who uprooted himself here, you're so weak! Why do you doubt yourself? Did someone say they hate this? And even if someone did say that, so what?! It's your creation! You're supposed to be proud of it. If you won't, then who will?"

"I …" Once again, I was rendered speechless, unable to defend myself. How could I? When I knew that everything she said was correct.

"You should learn from Angelo. He didn't even flinch when Elise criticized his work and, yeah, he was also unsatisfied with it but at least he _proudly_ showed it to everyone. Why can't you do the same as him, huh?"

"It's … too big … I can't just carry it around," I finally found my voice back.

"Then learn to accept compliments without putting yourself down. What if the one that complimented it was your client? Are you going to make excuses for your own work? Then why do you even do this job? Do you even have any pride in it?"

"Of course I do. I never make anything I'm not proud of but how was I supposed to compete with Angelo's painting?"

Reina stopped herself from shouting and lowered her voice down. "What are you talking about? Why do you need to compete with him?"

"Well I … I …" Come to think of it, there really was no reason to. "I'm not sure …"

" _Pfft—"_ Suddenly, Reina started laughing. Her voice echoed throughout the room, casting all of the gloomy feelings away. "You're so random, Cam."

"A-am I? I mean, you were so taken by his painting that …" I chose not to finish that sentence.

"Can you blame me? How would _you_ react if somebody painted a handsome picture of you?" She wiped her tears that leaked out of the corner of her eyes.

"…. You have a point."

A small silence fell upon our conversation but I managed to let out a sigh of relief. Talking—or shouting—with Reina helped clear my head from all of those unnecessary feelings. She probably also felt relieved as she sat down on my bed.

"I can see where you're coming from. Having a talented man like Angelo appear like that was probably new to you. But, like I said, you can't compare flower arrangement with a painting. They're in a completely different category."

Then, she found the scattered paper on the floor and picked one up. "Are these your sketches?"

I got up and took a seat next to her on the bed so I could peer over her shoulder. "Yep. For the bouquet."

"Hmm …" The botanist looked over my sketches and at my centerpiece, "what if you use the glass blade as a, like, some sort of plate for the flowers to sit on?"

With her suggestion, I started another sketch where I used the blade leaf at the bottom part to create a rounder look that surrounded the poppy. The darker turquoise was placed in the middle as it slowly faded out towards the green leaves. Once we both liked how it looked on paper, it was my turn to make into a reality. My trained hands swiftly wove the flowers and leaves together and in no time the bouquet was done.

"See! I knew you have talent! You should've seen yourself. Your movements were calculated and precise. Just like any other artist in this world."

"You mean Angelo?" I teased.

"I didn't say it." She said, flopping herself on the bed. "But I guess he does have something that you lack."

"What?" I was triggered as I climbed my way back to the bed.

"You can't compliment women." Reina stared at me dead in the eye. Her accusation pierced straight through.

"Hah… I … Well, you just … I mean,"

"It's okay. Everyone has a weakness. Yours is that."

"I've done my share of compliments, I'll have you know!" I could feel my competitive fire was burned once more.

"Then prove it. Compliment me," she continued.

"Y-you? N-now? Here?!"

Suddenly Reina began to imitate the sound of a chicken with her hands flapping about. "Hey, that's uncalled for."

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you over your inferiority."

"Fine. I'll just have to compliment you right? I'll do it." As an attempt to silence her, I bend over her with my hands beside her shoulders. I did not realize that our position was quite compromising since I was too focused on trying to make her eat her words.

"Y-your … fair skin … glistens under the … night sky and your eyes … they shone—shine, they shine like the stars in the … night sky and your lips …" I felt a lump on my throat as I pushed those words out of my mouth. My eyes were glued to hers as I frantically searched for a feature that I could comment on and when they focused on her lips, the lump got bigger and harder to swallow.

"Your lips … are like a rose petal that are soft to the touch, swaying against the wind in the …"

"Night sky?" Our faces had been so close that I could feel her breath as she whispered those words. The sudden realization caused me to jump back to a normal sleeping position.

"Now you're just making fun of me," I protested while covering my face to hide my embarrassment. Thankfully Reina didn't seem to mind my lack of decorum and simply chuckled.

"It's a good start though. Maybe you should just look at your ceiling as you practice some more."

I took up that offer and began to let out exaggerated compliments that would only came from novels, some of which I stole from excerpts of Iris' books; My neighbor laughed at all of them of course, all the while adding her own attempts of complimenting one's beauty. We continued our battle until our voices turned groggy and were nothing more than incomprehensible mumbling. I didn't know how long we went on but I remembered sleeping with a lighter heart that night.

* * *

 **AN:**

Flower meaning: Rivalry

Okay, on this chapter I managed to describe a little bit of Cam's inner struggle and growth a bit. It's quite a mix. But I'm glad that he gets to interact with Mistel and Klaus even just for a little bit. I kinda feel bad that I haven't been able to write more about the rest of the characters.

I know I described Reina's outfit change but it's basically just like the picture on the cover for this story. It's not canon at all, for sure, but it's a design that I really like from so I'm just going to keep it there.

Anyway, I know my progress is really slow but I hope you guys still enjoy this story! I do plan on finishing this in, at least, the next 3 chapters.


	8. Geranium

By the time I woke up, Reina had left the room with a note thanking me for bonding with her. As I recalled our conversations last night, it made me wonder at how honest I was with her, more than any of my family members. It took them many years before I could finally warm up to them. I used to cause Howard and Laney a lot of distress by keeping to myself. Howard was the one that helped me find my passion; working with flowers allowed me to zone out my surroundings. Flower arranging became my safety net, and it so happened that it became my bread-and-butter.

I was happy that I got to share these moments with Reina, showing her my growth and struggle, whilst she went on about her own project. Being with her felt very natural, special, even. I thanked the Harvest Goddess that I got to meet a great friend like her.

After washing up, I got ready to send the flowers to the wedding. I bought some ice from Raeger and placed it in a bucket before putting the flowers inside it. Keeping the flowers chilled was one of the ways to keep them from wilting. I also hired a carriage from Veronica to carry all of my items to the city. Once I made sure I had everything ready, I set off to my client's wedding.

She was undoubtedly happy with my result. She graced me with compliments, telling me how she was going to recommend me to everyone she knew. Remembering Reina's advice, I took them without trying to discredit myself. And so, the wedding went off without a hitch. The guests admired the flower centerpiece as well as the bouquet (the women were extra feisty during the throwing ceremony). Since the ceremony finished quite late, I was provided a room at a nearby inn. It was a good thing too since I only received my payment 2 days later. I sent Angelo his fare along with a letter of apology for the other day, then I set off around the city for a little sight-seeing.

I wasn't really a man who enjoyed the hustle and bustle of a city, but I sure did love the easy access to everything. My first trip was the flower store to buy seeds and packets of flower food. I could make liquid ones but I couldn't create the powdered flower food, so I always restock whenever I could. Then, I passed by a store that sold some lovely notebooks.

" _Reina might run out of notebook soon… Maybe I should get one for her,"_ I thought casually.

" _So she's special enough for you to start buying her things?"_ came another mocking voice.

" _Shut up. This is my way of thanking her for letting me in on the right color mixture."_ I defended myself as I made my way to the cashier.

" _Then you should buy for Klaus and Angelo for_ their _contribution."_

"Maybe I will!" I answered; this time out loud. The cashier lady had just given me the amount due and had stopped on her tracks due to my sudden outburst. I ducked down from embarrassment after handing her the money. I ended up following … my own advice and bought cufflinks for Klaus, a new shovel for Ibuki, and a pair of socks for Mistel. I didn't end up buying anything for Angelo since I already sent him money. I left early the next day hoping to arrive just in time for dinner. Somehow I was feeling excited to the point that I was _humming._ Humming! All the way home. I returned the carriage and immediately rush to my room, or rather, my neighbor's room to see if she was there. Unfortunately, she wasn't.

" _That's okay. She might be heading back soon. I'll just give these presents to the others and wait in my room."_

I detoured towards Klaus' house, who immediately tried on the cufflink, then to Mistel's house, who thought that I especially bought that socks to elongate his height (which I didn't), before heading to Ibuki's farm. He wasn't in his farmhouse but I did notice one of the greenhouses was lit. I was about to enter when I heard laughing. One of the voice belonged to Ibuki while the other was Reina's. It made me stop in my tracks.

" _They're definitely not talking about work."_ I thought to myself. In all the times I knew her, she rarely laughs, maybe a chuckle here and there, but never … like that.

" _Maybe they're flirting."_ Another voice popped in.

I pretended not to hear myself as I sneaked closer.

"You should've seen their faces when they saw me talking to the plants. I had to say it was all for research. Oh, if they only knew!" I heard her say before laughing some more.

"Thanks for the tip. I admire your professionalism. From now on, I'll definitely try to talk to my crops no matter how crazy I looked," the farmer replied.

"You're pretty admirable yourself, expanding your farm so fast despite being new to this job."

"Hah, but that's not without a few sacrifices and trips to Marian," Ibuki sounded embarrassed.

"Oh? What happened?"

"Ah… I forgot to eat sometimes. Too busy to cook and such."

"Maybe I could cook for you. I used to cook for Mako all the time."

Now this conversation had gone a bit too chummy for my taste. Ibuki didn't seem to wonder who Mako was which could only mean that Reina already informed him. Since when did they discuss families and personal information like this? Were they close?

" _Plus, she_ _never offered to cook for me…"_

Their conversation continued as Ibuki invited Reina to come use his kitchen whenever she was free. He even _dared_ to invite her for dinner tonight! By now, I didn't feel like handing my gift to him anymore. Why did I buy it in the first place? In fact, I wanted to end their conversation and grabbed Reina out of there. She wasn't supposed to show interest to anyone. Or at least, she wasn't supposed to like Ibuki! She was supposed to like-

" _You?"_ My twisted heart took over once more, plaguing me with selfish thoughts.

" _Stop it. We had this discussion before. I'm supposed to be happy for her. She wanted to find a boyfriend and as her friend, I should …"_

" _Then why are you so angry right now?"_

" _I'm not angry!"_

Before I accidentally shouted and alerted the two lovebirds, I gritted my teeth and ran away from the farm, dropping the shovel along the way. I busied myself with unpacking the rest of my clothes and stopped when I saw Reina's gift. I let out an exasperated sigh and threw the gift on the table. Out of sight, out of mind. Even after I was done with unpacking, I started rearranging my clothes, tidying up my work notes, anything just to take my mind off the incident. I got so focused that I didn't hear a knock on the door.

"Cam?" came the muffled sound. Realizing the owner of that voice, I rushed to open the door.

"Yes?" I tried to act as calm as I could. _"Why does she always come at such a bad timing?"_

"Hey … Maurice said that you've returned this evening so I thought I'd get you some dinner." She passed me a warm container that—I assumed—was filled with fresh food.

"… Did you cook this?" My heart started to beat faster in anticipation. _"Did they really have dinner together? Or did she make this specifically for me?"_

"Oh, no. I asked Raeger to make this for you. It's your favorite!"

"Raeger, huh?" I met Reina's excited tone with a more … monotonous voice.

"Well yeah … he _is_ the only chef here," she explained, confused.

" _Yet you offered to cook for someone you barely know."_

"Thanks," I said bitterly as I took the container and placed it roughly on the table. This earned me a scolding look from the botanist as she stepped inside with her arms crossed.

"Hey, be careful with that. Raeger made that for you."

"I _know._ You just told me." Once again, I lost it. I snapped at Reina not a week before we had bonded. Some friend, I was being.

"Cam … is something wrong?"

I wasn't sure what to tell her. I wanted to be honest, to get angry and to tell her off for being nice to another man but … I knew it wasn't my place. A part of me was upset that she was more willing to cook to a stranger than for me, her friend.

" _Friends are supposed to care for another. I was thinking of you while I was gone. Did you think of me? Did you look for me when I was busy at Klaus' place? Why am I the one that had to look for you, to reach out to you? Ask me to study plants with you, involve me more in your life!"_

While I was struggling with these thoughts, Reina slowly approached me and carefully placed her hand on me. It felt warm and rough. I took her hand and flipped it over. There were marks and callous over her pale skin. It showed how much she had been working hard in everything that she did. The hands that managed to push me and comfort me looked so small and fragile in my own rough hands. Without thinking, I pulled her into a tight hug. I was biting my lips to keep myself from crying.

She made me this way. Reina made me become this weak, pathetic man, who turned into nothing but a jealous, rotten bug, in the expense of her happiness. Even after I decided to be her wingman, I ended up sabotaging her relationship with Angelo. I hated seeing her pay attention to other men. I couldn't bear the thought of losing her. I thought I was strong enough, that's why I left everyone behind.

" _Everyone except her."_

Ever since my parents abandoned me, I always thought that people would one day leave, no matter who they are. I had anticipated that. I even took matters in my own hand by leaving the people from Bluebell first before they could leave me.

"Except you…" I whispered, "I can't let you go. I can't be a good friend for you."

"Cam…? What do you mean?"

"I'm sorry …" I said as I let go of her, "all this time, with Angelo, and earlier with Ibuki…"

"Earlier-?"

"…I've been jealous of them."

I waited for her usual reprimand but it didn't come. She only looked at me, with her mouth opening and closing, unsure what to say. I decided to continue. "I was afraid of losing you if you decided to date one of them. That's why I acted like such a fool. I just … don't want you to leave me."

"…Why?" Reina replied quietly, her voice shaking, possibly from anger.

"Because … you're my precious friend. There's no one that could ever replace you. You know me inside and out, you know my weakness, yet you still chose to be with me. You've done so much for me yet … all I ever do is hurt you. Please don't leave me."

In my head, I was going to lay out an argument that would make her not regret being my friend but I ended up finishing my speech practically begging her to stay. She seemed disappointed in her reaction, sighing and crossing her arm.

"You … sure did hurt me," I cringed at her agreement, "and I must be a fool to allow myself being treated this way."

"…but?" I asked, slightly hopeful.

She didn't answer immediately, and instead, went to sit on the chair by the table. "Come here and eat."

By now I was desperate to get on her good side, so I followed without question. I noticed that the food was Tom Yun Goong. As I took the first bite, Reina started to talk. "Raeger cooked this."

I nodded, my mouth was still too full to give a reply.

"He doesn't have this on his menu. I had to get the ingredients and asked him to make it specifically for you."

I felt my body warming up; both from the food and the feeling that stirred inside.

"Do you think … if I don't care about you, I would go through all that effort just to bring you this?"

"No…" I replied, hiding a smile.

"So you better finish this in fifteen minutes before I force feed you." This time, her voice had turned low and threatening but with the previous assurance, I knew that she didn't mean it.

With a calmer heart, I began to gobble up the food. I was suddenly hungry. Reina didn't say anything while I was busy eating. We simply sat there in a comfortable silence, at least, until I finished my meal when she suddenly said:

"We should visit our home this weekend."

* * *

Following Reina's suggestion, we visited Konohana and Bluebell over the weekend. The first person we saw was Lillian who gave both of us a hug. She was on a date with Mikhail so we didn't chat for very long before we made our way to Bluebell. When we were passing by the church, I noticed the familiar checkered hat chatting up a new member of the town. She was wearing a light blue dress with strawberry brown hair. Her demeanor was very soft and gentle.

"Don't tell me … there really is an angel." I chuckled to myself.

I led Reina up the stairs towards the church to say hi to my friend. "Excuse me for interrupting your date but…" The farmer turned around and almost jumped at us.

"CAM! You're back!" he shouted, pulling me in a tight hug.

"The correct term would be 'visiting'." I struggled to say.

"Goddess blessings to you. My name is Alisa. You two must be the infamous Cam and Reina from the two towns." The young woman stepped closer, bowing ever so gracefully.

"Yes, we are. Although I don't really know why you call us infamous," Reina replied to the woman's greeting since I was still busy dealing with Ash.

"But why wouldn't you be? You are the two brave lovers that fought against the hatred between the two mayors and left home to start anew. Your love always brought me courage and hope whenever I hear about it."

"…You must've spent time with Howard a lot," I managed to say, not bothering to deny that story.

"Actually I heard all your stories from Ash. He often visits me to tell me of your secret meetings."

"Did he now?" I smiled teasingly at Ash who was giving me a nervous smile back. "I'm sure he _enjoyed_ those visit very well."

"As do I. Ah, but I hope you'll excuse me. I still have some duties to attend to. It's nice to finally meet you two."

As soon as Alisa was out of earshot, I immediately punched Ash's shoulder playfully. "So, I still ended up being your wingman, huh?"

"I'm … not sure a relationship based on lies are … a great foundation." Reina added, her crossed-arm pose seemed ready to attack.

"It won't be a lie if you two just end up going out. Or maybe you … have?"

"No," we both replied, with different intensity.

Ash changed the subject by asking if we had visited Howard yet. I let him off the hook and allowed him to lead us to the cafe. I prepared myself before entering.

"OOOOHHHMYGOOODDESSSS! MY BABBBYYYYYYYY!" were the words that pierced my ears as soon as Howard saw me through the door. Laney was quick to cover her ears when she saw me; it proved to be a smart decision. The rest of us weren't too lucky.

"Y-you're looking healthy, Howard."

"Why didn't you TELL me that you were heading back? I could've picked you up, make all of your favorite food, prepared your room for you!" he went on as he searched me top to bottom. He made a few disapproving sounds whenever he saw something of me that he didn't like, particularly my outgrown hair and my eye bag, before finally bringing me in a death grip.

"I miss you so much, son."

"I missed you too, dad."

I also got a less deadly hug from my sister who was ready with slices of cake for us to try. Ash stayed and chatted, asking what we'd been doing. I told them about my newfound coloring trick and Reina tried her best to summarize the manure research she did for Elise.

"As you can see, spring have finally fall upon Ash when Alisa came by. He's completely smitten with her." Laney nudged Ash who was finishing his cake.

"Who wouldn't?! She's such an angel! Even my sister likes her!"

"Wow. A woman that Cheryl _likes?_ You better keep her." I whistled my disbelief. It was no secret that his brother-loving sister enjoyed teasing all the girls in town if she suspected anyone was taking an interest in Ash. I saw it firsthand when Laney was her target. Reina also voiced her agreement as she, too, had experienced the attacks.

Then we made our rounds to the mayor and his wife who was still busy tending the rose bush. Mayor Ina was visiting today—an odd sight to see since the two mayors used to have a great feud. She had her son with her to teach him the different ways of leading a town. The boy seemed more mature from the last time I saw him. He was walking in a dignified way as he followed his mother around.

"I'm sure, he'll be a great mayor one day." I commented on the way through the tunnel towards Konohana. It was odd to see miners there since, just a few seasons ago, this place had been closed off. Now, it was a shortcut towards the lush green town known for its vegetation. As soon as we entered the town center area, we were greeted with houses with small patches of garden. When we neared the clinic, Hiro and Nori walked out of the house, hand-in-hand.

"Oh my! Reina, is that you?" The long-haired woman cheerfully approached her friend. The two exchanged hugs and I exchanged handshake with the apprentice doctor.

"Hey Hiro, how's your internship?"

"It's been going great. I have been assigned to care for Nori's grandfather so … well, it's quite tough having a patient who still enjoys bug catching at his age." Hiro shook his head in defeat. We all knew how Gombe could sometimes be too playful, but no one, not even the strict Dr. Ayame, could stop him from hopping around when he had his sudden burst of energy.

"Well, I'm just glad that we have all of these clean air around for his lungs. Even Ying seems to regain her health because of it."

As I continued to chat with Hiro about the air condition in Oak Tree Town, I could faintly hear the two women whispering amongst themselves. I know it was rude to eavesdrop—though it didn't stop me the last time with Ibuki—I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious about their conversation.

"So … any updates?"

"Nothing worth mentioning."

"Did you try making jelly?"

"I did but it … didn't gave me the result that I wanted."

Since they were talking about food, I stopped listening in and focused on my own conversation with Hiro. I got tips on how to soothe my eye bags by using sliced cucumbers before we parted ways. Nori demanded that we had dinner together to catch up some more. So after promising to eat later on, we went to find Mako.

"I bet he's busy in his orchard." Reina said. Even though she said it indifferently, she increased her pace in order to reach her uncle's house faster. It was cute to see her excited like that.

"Whoah! Do my eyes deceive me? Reina, is it really you?"

Mako _was_ in his orchard but he was on his way back in his house so it was easy for him to spot us. He was so surprised that he dropped the basketful of fruits on the ground.

"Don't get too happy to see me. I'm only here for the weekend." His niece replied with a hint of smile on her face. I couldn't help but smile when I saw her happy face, or, at least I was, until I heard the thunderous sound aimed at me.

"YOU! The man who took my niece away. How dare you show your face here."

Although I have spent my time with Mako and knew that he was, in actuality, a nice person, he still had that threatening look with his eye-patch and bulky build. I froze as I frantically tried to remember if I did steal his niece.

"W-wait, but I remember I asked your permission before—"

"Hah! You shoulda seen your face! I'm just kidding with you, boy."

Of course. The man couldn't possibly let me live if I really _did_ offend him in any way. He gave me a firm hand shake and invited us in for tea. Inside, we chatted about our work, similar to what we'd told Howard and the others at Bluebell, only this time, we were able to go into more details in how we achieved our work.

"Good, good. You should consider publishing your method and bring it to the college."

"I was about to suggest that. Or maybe create a class; educate other florist." Reina joined in and soon the discussion moved to how I should open a short course in flower science. They were throwing these big ideas around and it made me feel … somewhat intimidated.

"Um, they're all great ideas but … it was only coloring. It's not really science. I'm sure there are people who already made that discovery," I cut in.

"Then why haven't we heard about it yet? And should it have been discovered, then it's all the more reasons for you to announce it to the world."

"W...why?"

"For them to take notice. When they hear about you, they'll contact you and you can compare notes, collaborate, compete, and soon you'll perfect the method even more!" Mako, who was a true researcher, got a bit fired up with his suggestion that he almost knocked down his tea.

"Alright uncle. Calm down. You're scaring the man."

The idea of going public was quite scary for me since I wasn't an extrovert by any means, however, the fact that my name might get noticed by my parents … intrigued me.

"You … really think … people everywhere will know about me?"

"Indeed. Publishing a book, creating seminars, becoming a professor. There are many ways to be known. You just have to pick one."

"Interesting…" I buried myself in deep thoughts as the conversation steered towards Reina's manure research. I was apparently so out of it that I didn't notice it was almost time for dinner, and since we promised Nori we'd eat at Yun's place, Reina got ready to leave. Mako told us to have fun as young people should and decided to stay put.

"I'll have enough time to catch up with my niece anyway," was his reason to stay.

While we were walking, Reina asked me what made me quiet earlier. She could tell that I was thinking because my brows were furrowed.

"Ah, it was about what your uncle said… if I were to become a famous florist, professor or otherwise, maybe my parents would hear about me too. Maybe they'll reach out for me … or something." I added weakly.

"I thought … Howard was your dad," Reina raised her eyebrow in question.

"Yeah, well, if by 'dad' you mean, a person who raised me, then yeah, he is. But … my real parents … I never really knew them since they, uh … they kinda left me." This fact wasn't something that I enjoyed sharing since it made me feel ikeike an unwanted goods. I had been bullied because of it and I didn't want Reina or anyone to treat me with pity.

"What was so important that they had to leave you?"

"I'm not sure … but my dad was the one that left first, and then my mom followed. She actually said that she'll be back once she found him," I told her, recalling my past. "I guess she never did? I don't know." I tried to brush it off but even after all these years, the memory still stung.

"You're kinda like me then. My parents weren't around too when I was growing up."

Somewhere along the conversation, we had stopped walking and was simply chatting. I was busy looking at my feet to avoid Reina's pitying look. But when I heard her as-a-matter-of-fact voice, it made me look up to see her. She met my eyes dead on, yet … it didn't show pity, it didn't show sadness, it only had … understanding.

"You too?" I dared to ask.

"Yeah. In fact, I only have pictures of them since they died when I was a baby. They had been some known botanical experts that were researching poisonous plants. Maybe something went wrong—I can't be sure, nobody would tell me—but they were found dead in our house," she continued her story, still without a hint of sadness. "Mako found me and took care of me ever since. He's like … your Howard, I guess. But at least I do have blood relations with him. So that makes Howard a bigger person to have adopted you into his family."

"…You're right. He … he really was just my neighbor. He was running a café much like now, but then his wife left him, so we moved away." The more I told my story, the more emotions swelled up. "I remember thinking that it was my fault that she left. It kept gnawing at me and gave me all of these insecurities. I kept thinking that I wasn't good enough for my parents. I thought that everybody will leave me one day, that nobody will ever loved me."

I could feel my body freezing up as I tried to hold back my tears. It won't do to cry in front of Reina. I had shown her enough weaknesses that I wouldn't be surprised if _she_ decided to leave me.

"The truth is … I never did tell Lillian how I felt. I lied to you since I didn't want to seem like a coward in front of the girl who was brave enough to confess. I was happy that you liked me but at the same time, I got scared. What if you knew the real me? What if you realized that I wasn't … the cool guy you thought I was?" As I poured my heart out, Reina watched me silently without uttering a word. It both scared and encouraged me to go on. It was now or never.

"I really did leave Bluebell to run away from facing Lillian who was happy with another man, but I couldn't go alone. I … used you … I asked you hoping, no, knowing that you'd say yes. I made you leave everyone you loved for my own selfish reason. Yet, I can't even repay you with anything."

By now, my hands were shaking. I had let all of my cards out in the open. I could only wait for my fate to be decided by Reina. Then, I felt her hand holding mine. She caressed my hand gently with her thumb. But it wasn't out of pity.

"Do you know why I invited you to come home?" She asked. I didn't know what to say. I wasn't really in a state to answer that random question.

"When we left, everyone's lives continued on. Some found a lover; others had grown older. We may say that we left them behind or vice versa but … the bond we have, the memories we shared with them, they never disappeared." Reina continued as she stepped in front of me. "I am Nori's best friend. You are Ash's best friend. When she marries, I will still be her best friend. She can still count on me to be there for her, and she for me. Distance, time, they're just numbers. What we chose to do with people that we meet is what matters more. Whenever you invest your attention to someone, you've left something in them. It goes both ways. So even if they _physically_ leave, they're still there. You're not alone."

"Do you know how I managed to keep going, in a town I know nothing about? I mean, I'm a botanist, a researcher! Not everyone would need my service. There were times when I wanted to give up, but I remembered my past; my friends that rooted for me, my personal achievement and experience, my future hopes and dreams, they all add up to motivate me to keep going."

" _That's true … I did think of Howard and his words of wisdom whenever I felt stuck,"_ I nodded in agreement, still processing it in.

"I know I'm weak, everyone is. The good thing is, once you know where your weakness is, you can work on it, like how I worked on my social skills. I'm sure you will win over yours soon enough."

Reina's gentle words and her warm hands, slowly soothed me to the point that I felt lighter. I no longer felt like I was burdened by anything. Heck, I even wanted to laugh for being so insecure in the first place. Everything she said was true. Everyone I held dear was still with me in my heart. I could still hear their voice and see their faces. I wasn't alone.

"Thanks Reina. I'm lucky to have you as a friend."

"Hmph. Tell me something new," she sarcastically replied.

With that, we continued walking to meet up with the rest. Apparently Nori had invited all the other people from both towns. Yun's diner was filled with familiar faces: Kana, Hiro, Lillian, Mikhail, Georgia, Laney, Howard, Ayame, pretty much everyone that wasn't too young or too old to stay up late joined in to what became an impromptu welcome back party. It was a good change of pace as we laughed and shared jokes about our lives. Howard brought some wine with him that he shared with everyone (except Alisa who refused to partake alcohol). We tried our best to keep the noises down but it was almost impossible once Kana got riled up. Ayame was no different. She kept on challenging people to drink more.

In the end, Ying was the one that got mad at us for keeping her awake. That was enough to end the impromptu party so we all parted ways. The Bluebellers returned along with myself and the Konohanas dispersed to their respective homes. In my drunken state, I dreamt of my parents in my old house. My mother, with jet black hair, had a worried look on her face as she wrapped her arms around my father. He had messy blond hair like mine, with a cigarette sticking out of his mouth.

" _You okay there, kiddo?"_ he asked.

I was looking at them from a child's perspective but slowly, I began to grow up to the man that I was now. As I looked inside the house, I felt someone holding my hand.

" _I'm okay now. I won't wait for you and I won't search for you because I'm not alone anymore."_

When I told them this, they both smiled and soon, the door to my childhood home was closed.

* * *

 **AN:**

Flower meaning: true friend, comfort, gentility, peaceful mind.

Whoooot! A faster update! lol

There's a new pairing in town and it's Ash and Alisa! I know, she's a "hidden" bachelorette but Ash has time to date and gift her 50 times (or something like that). I originally wanted to pair him with Laney but I just don't see them connecting. Plus, only patient nun could handle Cheryl's prank.

The conversation between Ibuki and Reina was referencing that scene from Two Towns when Reina was talking to her plant and then Mako came. You can look it up on Youtube. It really happened!

Just in case you missed it, Reina and Nori's conversation about "jelly" actually means about making Cam jealous. Which did happen but he STILL consider her as a special ... friend. You can imagine Reina's disappointment there, lol. After all this time ... she still loved him?

And I finally talked about Cam's parents. I've been hinting about it throughout the story but here's the complete backstory that I made for them:  
Dad's name is Gabriel, mom is Charis Siseli. Let's assume they're Italian. So, Gabriel made money out of tricking mafias and had always been on the move, assuming different identities each time. One day, he was staying at an inn where Charis was the owner's daughter. She was charmed by him and he also slowly began to love her knowing the risk of danger. They eloped and was soon Cam was born. They got a house next to Howard's, then, bed & breakfast. However, Gabriel was still being chased so he had to leave his family for fear of their safety. Charis struggled to raise Cam as a single parent, receiving help from Howard. One day, she received a letter with money and an address from Gabriel. She took that opportunity to search for him in that town. She asked Howard to take care of Cam, promising that she'd send him letters with payment and news update. But one day, the letter stopped coming. Cam was about 9 years old. After Howard's wife left, they packed their bags and left for Bluebell. Although I couldn't find anything about his wife, in my headcanon, she left him for reasons mentioned in A Scent of Coffee - my 100chapter challenge for him.

I have a lot of headcanon for the Two Town's story, like pairing Mako with Ayame, Dirk with Oracle, etc. I might do collections of one-shots or something.

With Reina's parents, at first it was more sinister like The Amazing Spiderman (2nd reboot), where they were killed because someone wanted their secret research but, meh, it's Harvest Moon. So, death by accidental poison it is.

Cam's insecurities are something that could really happen to a child, though I'm no psychologist, I do have friends that dealt with parental problems. I hope I was able to bring light to that and somehow encourage those who've experienced the same to be strong. You may physically alone, but somewhere along the way, the memories you make, will always be with you and strengthen you.

Phew, sorry for the long note. As always, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I hope I can keep the momentum going and post soon.

Thanks for reviewing, following and favoriting my story!


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